Quick report
I wanted to get out and observe the new storm snow and see how well it bonded with the underlying crust. Unfortunately, I beat the storm by a bit, and it had just begun snowing as I arrived. With only about 1-2 inches of snow, it was difficult to assess the bond with the crust with much confidence, but it felt favorable. I started out the hike on bare dirt and soft boots. I experienced quite a few patches of water ice on the trail and took some interesting routes attempting to avoid these treacherous sections of the trail. At times, I thought boot crampons or microspikes might have been useful. More continuous snow started around 5000ft, and I switched to skins and skis around 5300ft. The snow was frozen and supportable at all elevations, but the surface was a bit softer in the forest and at elevations below 5400ft. Above that, the crust was very hard, and while I didn't put on the ski crampons, they would have been essential in steeper terrain.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 26
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 3cm
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
It started snowing lightly just as I arrived at the trailhead around 9am and picked up quickly to snowfall rates between 1-2cm per hour. Winds were moderate and I observed some minor drifting. If felt pretty much like winter again, and the rain/snow line was down around 4000ft.
Snowpack
There was very little snow at the trailhead, skiable snow depths began around 5000ft.
I dug a quick pit at 5800ft on a North Aspect. There is an average of about 160cm of snow on northerly aspects at these elevations in open terrain. The upper snowpack is a mix of melt-freeze crusts with some weak snow in between closer to the surface and stronger rounded grains between the crusts further down. The Early February Crust is buried around 70cm. The 3cm of new snow seemed to have a favorable bond at these elevations in sheltered terrain.