Sweeney Peak

Moderate southwest winds were blowing snow onto north and east aspects, creating fresh small wind slabs along upper elevation ridgelines. I intentionally triggered a small wind slab on a wind loaded northeast aspect at 8100 ft and observed cracking in fresh drifts along the ridgeline.

The persistent slab problem lingers at upper elevations due to facets buried near a crust around 45 cm deep. Triggering a persistent slab appears unlikely, but the sensitivity is still uncertain. 

I intentionally triggered a small wind slab on a wind loaded northeast aspect at 8100 ft. I also observed cracking in wind drifts on loaded north and east aspects. The wind loading was localized to near the ridge top.

I dug two snowpits today, one on a northeast aspect at 7900 ft and the other on a southeast aspect at 8000 ft. The northeast pit produced a propagating extended column test on the 16th tap, 45 cm deep, on a thin layer of facets just below the early February crust (ECTP16). There were also rounding facets and depth hoar near the ground that were still weak and only fist hard. The southeast pit produced a non-propagating result 45 cm deep on a 5cm thick layer of small facets above the early February crust (ECTN14). The crust was very stout on the southeast aspect and there were a couple of thinner crusts in the slab above. 

Middle and lower elevations have a thin snowpack. The snow depth on a steeper south aspect at 7000 ft was only around a foot deep. 

I observed some small surface hoar growing in wind and sun protected areas. Sun protected areas above 7000 ft had dry surface snow. Some middle and lower elevation south aspects heated up in the sun today. However, the wind at upper elevations and thin snowpack at middle and lower elevations kept any wet avalanche concerns at bay.