Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
I went up to the Mammoth Crest to get a general sense of early-season coverage and to get baseline snowpack data from a north-facing slope at treeline. Coverage was thin and travel was challenging. My snow pit, dug at 10,000 feet in a place representative of the surrounding terrain, showed a thin, weak, continental snowpack.
Localized cracking in shallow, rocky areas where previous winds had stiffened the surface snow.Weather
- Air Temp
- 50
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- none
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Increasing clouds and warm temps. Light winds from the southeast. No blowing snow.
Snowpack
- Below treeline, snow depths ranged from 1 to 12 inches. Warm temps made the snow wet and sticky.
- Near and above treeline, snow depths varied from 1 to 20 inches on northerly slopes. West to northwest winds on the 19th had drifted recent snow onto east-facing slopes and into gullies. Coverage is thin and the snowpack is weak. My snow pit had weak facets on the ground and I got propagation in my tests.
- Slopes facing the sun were mostly bare.