Mammoth Crest

My goal for today was to get on a higher north-facing aspect to see how our new load is interacting with old (pre 12/24) snow. I was surprised by easy travel and minimal signs of instability. Difficult failure initiation was found at the new/old interface. Our midstorm instabilities appeared to be on a stabilizing trend. Recently, wind-drifted snow showed propagation in a long column test.

Minimal signs of instability. As I gained the ridge, I found shallow (~4" deep), localized cracking in recently wind-drifted snow. "Pizza Box". Cracking in a small radius, 4-10 feet from my skis.

Generally upside-down feeling structure in the top 3 feet of our new snow, with wind-affected snow found at all elevations I travelled. While touring, my skis only penetrated about an inch across the majority of the terrain. The height of snow sat happily around 40-50 inches (110-130cm) in places protected from the wind. On north-facing aspects at ridgetop, I had a hard time finding anywhere with a height of snow less than ~75 inches (190cm).

In a hole on a north-facing aspect at 10,134' I found:

• ~50" of settled new snow since 12/24
• Hard propagating results 12" (30cm) down. A 1F wind-packed slab was failing on non-persistent decomposing fragments. (ECTP21)
• Resistant breaks in a slightly less hard (4F) mid-storm interface 30" (75cm) down (CT16RP) 
• Difficult, but possible, failure initiation in a Deep Tap test in large facets underneath our rain crust from pre 12/24. (DT21 SC)
• Dry snow throughout