Quick report
Despite spring conditions on solar slopes, persistent weak layers of snow remain intact on some north facing slopes around 9,000’. We found preserved surface hoar buried about 2.5 feet (80cm) that was reactive in snowpit tests. See snowpack section for more info.
No signs of instability. You’d have to dig, or trigger it, to find it.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- none
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Clear skies to start the day. Temperatures below freezing in the morning. High clouds moving in around 11am. Temperatures warming significantly in the middle elevations by noon. Light ridgetop winds out of the south.
Snowpack
Preserved surface hoar that is still mostly upright made for a spooky snowpit. The snowpack felt solid beneath my feet. Not the case 80cm down. It would be difficult to trigger an avalanche on this layer given the hardness of the overlying slab, but I wouldn’t throw out the possibility on a very steep slope. Spotty distribution of surface hoar makes it hard to assess slope stability. January “facets” were not much of a concern in this snowpit. Structure would be good without the surface hoar.
This snowpit: High strength, poor structure (5 out of 5 snowpack lemons), potential for crack propagation, low continuity of preserved surface hoar across slopes thankfully. ECTP21