Elephants Hump

We toured N to E aspects on Elephant's Hump today in below treeline and near treeline terrain. Strong SW winds were blowing and drifting snow over the ridgetops. Skin track refill was occurring. Hard wind slabs up to 4 inches thick had formed in near treeline areas from redistribution of snow on the ground. We dug two snowpits on northerly aspects. One was below treeline and the other was near treeline in an area with minor wind effect. In both locations the slab overlying the Feb 10 facet layer was too brittle to drive propagation following weak layer collapse. The slab properties are expected to change over the next 24-48 hours with significant new snow loading expected. See snowpack section below for additional details.

We dug a test pit on a NE aspect at 8,000' in below treeline terrain (mapped lat/long of this observation) and a second higher up on a NNW aspect at 8,420' in near treeline terrain. The Feb 10 facet layer was notably weaker at our 8,000' testpit location than at the 8,400' location with the attached pit profile. At the 8,000' location, my skis were collapsing through the rain crust and into the Feb 10 facet layer while breaking trail. Facets were falling out of the uphill wall of my skin track. In both locations, the overlying slab of recent new snow was still too brittle to drive propagation following weak layer collapse. ECTN and PST SF results.