Quick report
I didn't observe any avalanche problems throughout my tour, and this was largely due to the shallow snowpack. Riding off trail only seemed possible at the highest elevations.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 29
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
There were thin, high clouds at sunrise, before clearing throughout the morning. The wind was calm except near the summit where it was Light with Moderate gusts from the South.
Snowpack
There is a supportable melt-freeze crust everywhere. The height of snow is very dependent on elevation. At the lake there is only a couple of inches (6 cm.) of snow and almost none in the forest. By the time you get near the summit of Paulina Peak there is about 2 ft. (I measured 60 cm. at 7720 ft. NE). At this elevation I was still able to find the faceted layer above the ground. I wasn't getting the dramatic test results that I was a week ago, but I did see failures on this layer in compression tests (some small sudden collapses). This layer was 4 finger hardness where I dug, but still felt pretty sugary.
**Facets comprise weak layers of snow. These facets formed during the early season when the snowpack was shallow. Lately they have been slowly gaining strength as the snowpack deepens (they are rounding) up high, or at lower elevations the layer was essentially destroyed by the two rain storms.**
There is also a very thick, hard rain crust mid pack that makes observing the basal facets difficult. I couldn't even poke my ski pole handle through it, so the only ways I found to look for the weak layer were by probing or by digging a profile.