Quick report
- Red Flags
- Cracking, Collapsing
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Cracking was widespread along the skin track and the collapsing was nearly continuous as we ascended. And it was loud, I'm not sure I've ever heard the sounds of settlement coming from so far away from where we were standing, it was like rolling thunder on and off for the entire ascent.</p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>We dug a pit at 8100', 330 degree aspect. Total snow depth was 29". The bottom 4" was very weak facets. These facets were also present in hasty pits dug all the way up the skin track on all aspects except south. Above the facets was a fairly uniform snowpack of fist hardness (not hard at all). Multiple attempts to isolate a column failed as the entire column slid off the facets during the cutting. Needless to say, the snowpack is very weak and unstable. We skied only slopes less than 30 degrees without incident.</p>
Some wind damage to the snow up high, but it was generally dense settled powder and where there was enough of it, the skiing was pretty good. But, there really isn't enough snow to ski on below 7500', meaning the first 2k of vertical from the trailhead is only doable for ascent and descent on the summer trail.