Quick report
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>No red flags to note given the low elevation and shallow snowpack.</p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The crusts sit atop loose, powdery snow below, but snowpack depth is shallow and the bed surface is quite rough. Lacking a significant load or bed surface, I have no serious concerns to note at the lower elevations.</p>
Snowpack from the trailhead (4500') to about 4800' was patchy and melting out in spots, with hiking trails bare dirt or crusty in most places. Above 4800' to our high point at 6300', snowpack varied in depth from 10 to 25cm with boot penetration through the entire snowpack to the underlying surface.
West aspects featured a thin melt/freeze crust of about 2cm thickness and generally P hardness, likely as a result of yesterday afternoon's relatively clear sky. Some minor wind drifting was evident on east aspects with snow depths of 40 to 50cm; surface wind slab was about 10cm thick and 1F hardness. A few pockets of north aspect retained powder, but the snowpack was generally characterized by a surface crust of wind or melt/freeze with underlying powder that was slowly starting to round.