Silver Peak

Shwacked up toward Silver Peak today, trying to get a glimpse of snow conditions at upper elevations without too much walking on bare ground. I avoided having to carry my skis on my back but experienced somewhat firm travel conditions due to a refrozen sun crust. Early-season hazards abound due to the generally low snow coverage - boulders, stumps, creeks, shrubs, and holes slowed my progress and were my greatest concern. Although views were limited, I was able to get a feel that those conditions extend throughout the mountains of the Pass from my vantage point.  Lower elevations essentially had a trace of new snow plus a few patchy spots - well below the threshold for avalanche activity. As you ascend in elevation, snow became more continuous around roughly 4000' but there is still plenty of surface roughness with those exposed natural hazards.

At 4700' there is roughly 50cm of snow containing a series of crusts with some gaps containing weaker snow. These vary throughout the landscape with the surface crust being semi-boot supportable. If you broke through, boot pen was shin deep. A facet-crust sandwich was found in the upper 20cm of the snowpack. Sun and wind-protected areas harbored some surface hoar capped by the trace of new snow.