Quick report
Thanksgiving melt/freeze crust is pretty widespread throughout the pass but peters out around 6000’. Most places this crust is quite strong and unreactive despite the fact that it overlays facets to the ground. A couple hand pits showed signs of decomposition and a clean shear below the crust in isolated pockets around shallow snow. We noted concerning patches of surface hoar, more so on the east side of the road than the west. More so in the shade than in the sun. The lack of significant wind in the pass and now that we have a bit of snow on top, it’s likely there will be hidden pockets preserved in the snowpack intact. Also of future concern will be the current bit of surface snow that has experienced cold temperatures and has had time to turn into near surface facets overlying the crust. This layer is quite widespread and will be a future weak layer to keep an eye on once we get a cohesive new snow load on top.