Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
We skinned up low-angle terrain at Gash to about 8600 feet. Winds were strong where we transitioned, and varied in direction. We experienced intense snow transport. Below 7500 feet wind speeds were surprisingly light, with only moderate gusts. The deepest height of new snow we found was 20 inches (50 cm). New snow felt upside down in many locations.
We had shooting cracks about 5 feet long on wind-loaded roll-overs. Cracking elsewhere was limited to immediately around our ski tips.
Ski quality was good on low-angle slopes above 7000 feet or so. Below this elevation the snowpack was thin.
Cracking was specific to wind-loaded areas. On steep rolls some cracks propagated up to 5 feet in front of us. Elsewhere cracks occurred only around our ski tips.Weather
- Air Temp
- Not observed
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- intense
- Rain Elevation
- N/A
- Recent Snowfall
- 10-50
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Temperatures dropped throughout the day. Winds were surprisingly light with only moderate gusts below 7500 feet. Above this, they were strong and varied in direction from the south, west, and north.
Snowpack
At the summer trailhead (5800 ft), there was 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) of new snow on a thin and patchy old snowpack. Snow depth increased quickly as we gained elevation. The deepest we measured was about 20 inches (50 cm) of new snow at 8100 ft. This sat on hard and supportive old snow. The new snow felt upside down in many locations, likely due to variable wind loading during the snowfall event.
At elevations higher than 8100 ft it was difficult to obtain accurate measurements of new snow depth due to wind redistribution.