4,068'

The "Beaver Moon" storm event brought a welcomed higher snow total to Hatcher Pass than originally forecasted. Independence Mine showed up to .4" of Snow Water Equivalent or 5-8" of new storm snow for mid-upper elevations.  Today's calm, clear and cold conditions provided excellent visibility and good touring. We were looking to get eyes on the recently observed avalanche activity as well as poke around in some areas that have yet to see much travel this season. Overall the riding conditions are improving as the snowpack is growing. 

See 11/17 observations from WSW Marmot for the most recent recorded avalanche in the Pass.

We dug a full pit near the summit on the NE aspect of Peak 4068 where we found about 5'' of new snow that was sitting on a thin crust that was likely formed with some pre-frontal fog to start the recent storm. This layering is likely isolated and anomalous and will probably decompose in the coming days. Below this we found a thicker wind slab remnant from the November 5th wind event sitting on our early season basal ice.

The current main concern with our snowpack structure is dry new storm snow as well as faceted old snow over crusts. Some of these crusts are old, decomposing windslabs and in some areas (see pit profile) look more like a cohesive ice layer. At the bottom of the snowpack, we have seen widespread rain crusts that are up to 10cm in thickness. In areas where rain crusts remain uniform and cohesive, it is possible to see dry loose avalanches run larger (see public observations from Marmot).