White Pass Backcountry: Hogback Mt

While wind slabs were the "in your face" issue today, it's the weak older snowpack that had us concerned. The snowpack structure actually looks weaker than prior to the big storms. Yikes! It's so deep, the only way we could observed it at all was to dig deep snow profiles. 

Cracking: I was able to trigger several shooting cracks 6-10ft in length in wind loaded pockets.

Wind Slabs: There was no shortage of signs of wind affected snow, even down at Pass level. Scoured slopes, tree debris, rime, and drifts were all evident. Firm wind pillows were seen along ridges and a few mid-slope cross-loaded features. Many wind slabs produced 6-10ft shooting cracks. 

Persistent Slab: We probed in many locations and generally found the upper crust (1/8) down about 3ft (90cm) with the Soltice Crust/Facet Complex about 4-5ft (120-150cm) below the surface. In our snow profiles, tests regularly failed within the Solstice Complex on large (6mm) facets and produce sudden results. The Solstice Matrix looks weaker than the last time I dug in a similar nearby area prior to these big storms. 

Storm Snow: About 3-4ft (90-120cm) of settled storm snow was found in the backcountry. A thin (1cm) ice crust from the warm-up near the beginning of the storm (1/8)  was observed in the profile and felt with probes. Some snowpack test failed on this layer, but they were less consistent. The storm snow seems to be settling, ski penetration today was around 8-10in (20-25cm), much shallower than what we experienced this past week.