Cartmell Mountain

On Monday snow was uniformly wet throughout the top 30 cm with temps above zero at below treeline and near zero at treeline, but the snow remained relatively stable. No pits were dug but ski cuts on a SE aspect, 30 degree slope resulted in large sluffs. (picture from Monday) On Wednesday, field observations showed that rain overnight had turned to snow with a freezing level higher than expected. This froze the layer of wet corn snow below and offered good stability on steep aspects, with 4 cm of new snow at treeline and trace new snow below treeline. As the day warmed around noon, riding quality was good as lower crust loosened, yet ski cuts remained unproductive. (Though the forecast called for morning rain and snow in the afternoon, no rain fell but 1 of snow fell at noon.)