Tamarack Peak

We decided to take a low angle tour on Tamarack to see how the snowpack is adjusting to the new snow. 4-6" of dense wind-blown snow greeted us at the trailhead. New snow felt slightly upside-down, with denser snow at the surface. There was evidence of previous N winds and new wind transport everywhere we looked, even in the sheltered trees. Swirling winds around terrain features made it pretty difficult to stay out of the wind today and we did not attempt to access any ridgetops or exposed terrain. S2 precip until approximately noon, when precipitation rates and the W-SW winds increased. We heard and felt multiple snowpack collapses on a variety of aspects and elevations. Most notable was when our group of 3 all converged on the same small area to dig a test pit and we felt an area-wide collapse. We dug a quick pit in this location and did a couple quick CTs. Concerning sudden collapse results were observed near the interface of the new snow and on the large basal facets in this area. We did not observe any avalanche activity, but visibility was extremely poor. Given the weather, the day's hazard, and the obvious signs of instability observed, we gave all 30 degree and steeper terrain a wide margin.

Quick report