Quick report
Snow was mainly supportable with little concern for avalanches. The only terrain where surfaces were soft and had more sliding potential was on north-facing aspects around 5000ft and higher, where a 6-8-inch-thick layer of moist, soft snow sat above the 3/25 crust. Here, I triggered a few sluggish rollerballs in this snow on steep slopes. Even in these areas, boots sank in a foot or less, so despite the warm, moist weather today, I was glad to see I wasn't easily punching down to my knees or deeper.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 4800
- Recent Snowfall
- 1
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Very very small amounts of snow available for transport. A trace of sticky snow was present above about 4800ft. Varying amounts on snow fell while I was out, S-1 on average. Calm where I traveled, all the way up to my max elevation along the ridge at 5400ft. Temperatures even at max elevation were just above freezing, as snow melted on me upon contact.
Snowpack
I started my uphill journey at about 10am, and surfaces were firm enough to be fully supportable on skis, even off of the heavily traveled areas. This was the case for my entire climb, up to about 5300ft. No ski crampons were needed, however. Here, I transitioned and skied down a north-facing aspect, where I was surprised to encounter soft, mushy surface snow and initiate a few irregular rollerballs, gouging tracks through the sloppy 6-inch layer. Once back on south-facing aspects, I confirmed that these areas were, indeed, firmer on the surface than northerly aspects. Upon returning to the parking lot, I noticed that the snow surface was a little softer, particularly in areas below about 4500ft. I still only sunk a couple inches down with my skis.
When I started out on this journey, I was not inspired to see how much debris coated the rapidly melting snow. Thankfully, the worst of it was below 4500ft, and surfaces were white as I approached the ridgeline. That being said, all south-facing surfaces were textured and bumpy, especially under trees. Only when I reached north-facing slopes off the ridgeline did I see smooth white surfaces. Snow was sticky for most of the ski down, but the perk to the very dirty snow is that snow was least sticky here.
I dug pits on opposing north and south aspects near my highest elevation. In the north-facing pit, although all layers were moist large melt forms, the layers were softer, especially at the surface. It was easy to shovel through all layers to dig the pit. There were, however, notable layers. In the south-facing pit, the snow was harder, but there weren't particularly any discernible layers. Snow on the north-facing aspect where I traveled averaged about 250cm, vs snow on the south-facing slopes averaged about 150cm.