Quick report
Today, the objective was to assess snow coverage in the South Fork. In all, the entire South Fork, including Castle Lake and Gumboot areas, have far less snow than Mount Shasta. The deepest observed snow was in the Gumboot area, with closer to ten inches of snow in places. Gumboot had some surface hoar near the lake, which was beautiful to look at, but not a stability concern.
Castle Lake is still very thin with ice. The majority of the lake doesn't even have ice on it just yet. Gumboot Lake is fully covered with ice, some of it being thick enough to walk on. Both will take more time before skating or traveling across.
Regarding road conditions, the road to Castle Lake is dry, and the road to Gumboot becomes significantly covered with snow around 5,800 feet. If you're headed to Gumboot, you will want 4x4, snow tires, and high clearance to get through the snow.
No instability was observed.Weather
- Air Temp
- 48
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Today was overcast and relatively warm. Observed winds were calm to light out of the west northwest.
Snowpack
Castle Lake area has less than six inches of snow, with shady aspects holding slightly more. Gumboot has six to ten inches of snow.