Mt Hood Meadows/ Heather Canyon

The snowpack unfortuantly endured another beating in recent days after some high snow levels and sunny days.  Mt Hood lost a lot of snow below 5000 ft. Above this, the snowpack is often wet, mushy, and unsupportable on most slopes below 7000 ft. We found meltwater percolating down beyond the 3/9 crust, which still acts as a prominent marker in the upper snowpack and sits roughly 2-3 ft below the surface. Fresh wet loose activity was minimal; however, the snowpack seemed sloppy enough that you could probably push a wet loose on something steeper. 

We also took some time today to gather more information about the impressive D4 that occurred on the morning of 3/14. Check out more details about this avalanche below. 

After a mild night and two days of above freezing temperatures, the upper snowpack is wet and sloppy, especially on solar aspects. We found firmer conditions along windy, westward slopes on Vista Ridge, but temperatures were warm enough that the surface softening started to occur by late morning

We dug a pit in Heather Canyon on SW aspect around 6000 ft: HS 195 cm: 65 cm of wet snow/melt forms rests over a crust (likely the 3/9 crust). Beneath this crust, the snowpack remains wet. Snowpack tests prodcued one CT result (CT 23, RP) on the 3/9 crust. As is typical with wet snow, test results were inconsistent and often unremarkable.