Quick report
Found decent snow and very few people at mid and upper elevations east of WMR in mostly sheltered terrain. Light snowfall and winds made for a pleasant day with Level 1 rec class. We didn't see any snow actively being transported in sheltered or open terrain. Unable to see any recent avalanche activity across the canyon due to fog. No signs of instability on both sheltered and exposed slopes.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 25-30
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 5400
- Recent Snowfall
- 5-10
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Spent most of the day at mid and upper elevations where it was snowing S-1 all day. Light to moderate winds out of the S-SW. OBX skies all day with limited visibility. Returned to the resort just in time for some clear precipitation around 1530.
Snowpack
-Found the usual crusts (sun/rain/melt freeze) on southerly aspects along with now buried SH about 50 cm below the surface. ECTs failed to propagate on this layer, but we were able to initiate cracking on the SH where it wasn't completely knocked down. Small slabs were starting to form, but mostly unconsolidated snow in the top 50 cm. -On N and NE aspects we found similar crusts in hasty pits, but were able to find slabs of consolidated snow resting on top of still standing SH crystals between 25-40 cm down. We chose to avoid terrain over 30 degrees on these northerly aspects and were rewarded with nice conditions in sheltered areas amongst the large diameter Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii).