Cape Horn Summit

Weak facets buried under 6-10" of new snow exist in the Cape Horn area. The snowpack structure is most worrisome in previously wind-loaded terrain. 

Early-season conditions still exist. Travel was difficult due to a lack of snow and down timber. 

No avalanches observed in the Cape Horn zone. Collapsing was happening in areas where the upper slab was stiffened by wind and warmer temperatures.

There is generally 1.5 to 2 feet of snow sitting on the ground above 7500', and 1 foot of snow below 7500'. 

Buried Weak Snow: 
Weak sugary facets, buried on December 5th, are under 6-10" of new snow. The facets making up this weak layer were large (2-3mm), but seemed to be moist and rounding. We received frequent small, localized collapses while breaking trail on this layer.

Wind Blown Snow:
While wind slabs were not reactive where we traveled, wind-stiffened snow was in the front of our minds due to obvious patterns of wind distribution seen throughout the terrain. The combination of slabs of wind-blown snow overlying weak sugary facets was the primary concern today. In non-windloaded terrain, the slab was too soft to propagate a failure across the 12/5 weak layer. Previous winds over the weekend moved enough snow around at ridgetops, or middle elevation terrain features such as ribs or gullies, to deposit slabs 1-2 feet thick.