Deadfall Basin

Hiking remains the recreation of choice in the Eddy Mountains until more snow arrives. Parks Creek Road (42N17) is clear of snow to the Parks Creek Trailhead, though there are several patches of ice to navigate. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is mostly snow-free to Middle Deadfall Lake. Up to 17 inches of snow exists on the highest, shadiest aspects in the Basin, though plenty of shallowly buried obstacles lurk just beneath the surface. The areas with enough snow to ski or ride also hold enough continous coverage to act as a bed surface for avalanches with future storms. 

Most terrain in the Deadfall Basin is snow-free. Where snow exists, depths increase with elevation and on shadier aspects. Snow surfaces are a smorgasbord of melt-freeze crusts, wind-textured snow, and soft faceted snow.

Faceting is widespread on west through north through east aspects. The largest and most well-developed facets are in areas with the shallowest snowpack (we found up to 2mm facets under a melt-freeze crust on a northwest aspect with 3 inches of snow). A pit on a north aspect at 8000 feet showed a layer of softer faceting rounds (0.5-1mm) over a crust-faceting rounds-crust sandwich (see photo). ECTN22 down 16cm at the interface of the faceting rounds and the crust beneath. The facets in the upper and lower snowpack (between the crusts) are worth tracking with future loading events. 

In very isolated areas with sufficient loading (i.e., wind drifts) and continuity of the lower weak layer (i.e., few rocks to disrupt it), there may be enough of a slab to be more of an issue than at our pit location.