Quick report
Though the season of low tide and breakable crust continues, we found better than expected coverage and pleasant wintry-like conditions at the middle elevations. Riding conditions remain variable and challenging at best.
We found isolated, small, and stubborn pockets of wind slab where we traveled. Given what we saw, I'd expect the higher elevations to contain more wind-drifted snow.
Our concerns were limited to the upper part of the snowpack, which contains weak snow/crust combinations that could become more problematic when subjected to a fresh load of new snow.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 30
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- 2
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Overcast with occasional light snow and moderate east winds.
Snowpack
As we ascended on our tour, we found a combination of breakable crust, small isolated wind-drifted pockets, and, in more sheltered areas, up to an inch of fresh snow sitting on top of a translucent rain crust.
We dug a snow profile on a relatively sheltered NE aspect at 5030 feet. We found a 43" deep snowpack with an inch of fresh snow sitting on top of the aforementioned crust.
The most interesting layer we saw was the 12/22 interface. A series of weak crusts and very small sugary facets formed a particularly weak structure. When we tested this layer it failed consistently. Large column tests (PST 30/100 end and ECTP 11 and 12) showed that propagation could occur. So far, we haven't seen any avalanches on this layer, but it is worth keeping an eye on.
Below the layer of failure, the snowpack consisted of frozen, hard, and well-bonded melt forms. All our concerns are limited to the upper snowpack.
In very isolated locations, we found small pockets of 8-10" wind slabs that were reactive only when isolated with an uptrack test. Aside from these pockets, we found no signs of instability on our tour.