Quick report
I observed a 1 inch thick melt-freeze crust that existed on solar aspects and up to my highpoint at 8,500 feet. The surface of this crust was grainy and edgeable, which made for efficient skinning conditions. Around 10am the sky changed from clear to overcast and the wind increased. The shift in weather conditions prevented the surface crust from breaking down into the sweet December corn that I had anticipated. Instead, the surface remained firm and grabby until I had descended about 1500 feet. At 7,000' the snow was slushy and rocks breached the surface.
Keep an eye out for changing weather and surface conditions, especially as a forecasted storm is incoming!
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- none
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Snowpack
I dug a snowpit at 7,900 feet on a SE aspect where the snowpack total was 51 inches. Despite the depth of total snow, I could only dig down 8 inches before reaching an impenetrable ice crust. The top 8 inches consisted of two stout melt-freeze crusts with dry low-density snow sandwiched in between. Snowpack tests yielded no results.