Quick report
I did not find any signs of instability; however, I avoided steep wind-loaded terrain during the tour.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 37
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Cold this am, warmed up well above freezing around 10 am. Calm and mostly clear.
Snowpack
Solar aspects harbor a melt freeze crust at the surface that has become more pronounced and supportable over the last week. I found this crust everywhere, sun-exposed, at all elevations as I travelled today.
Polar aspects near and above treeline have either been exposed to wind scouring and deposition or have not been affected by the wind at all. The snowpack could be classified as:
-A shallow pack wind scoured to rock, or wind scoured to the 11/13 crust.
-A deeper pack, holding isolated wind-drifted snow over presumably older facets. (this was especially apparent mid-slope in gully-like features or subtle slope-scale depressions)
-Cohesionless facets with no overlying slab. I found these locations to be protected from wind and sun, 10-20" (30-50cm) total in depth.
The deepest height of snow I found today was ~20" (50cm) on a north-facing aspect at 11,100'. It was faceted throughout.