Quick report
We observed a variety of conditions today, from firm facets on supportable crusts, to 5cm thick stout sun crusts on solar aspects. Slightly cooler weather combined with winds kept surfaces cool enough for sun crusts to remain supportable to breakable, but definitely not softened. In some locations, skinning uphill is firm, slippery and challenging and making new skin tracks in way more enjoyable. We saw one other person today snowmachining, one person on the sledding hill, and two nordic skiers. The Hatcher Pass landscape still resembles the aftermath of the late Jan avalanche cycle with lots of debris that can be challenging to navigate as well as slopes that previously avalanched showing bare ground from the past couple week's warmer than usual weather. The most exciting part of the day was a shift in the weather wind that blasted our faces with facets. We are optimistic that we will get even a dusting of snow in the next 24 hrs.
Despite intense winds with gusts in the 40-50s mph during our tour, little snow is available for transport. We did not observe any signs of instability.Weather
- Air Temp
- 25
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Sunny skies began the day, with clouds building to the west and south. By early afternoon, high cirrus clouds formed, and we experienced strong ESE gusts 36-53 mph at 4200'. Fortunately, temperatures were mild in the mid-twenties, which kept the facets hitting our faces slightly more tolerable.