South Side

The landscape looks a lot different around Mt. Hood after 1.5 inches of snow water equivalent. In general, I typically observed around 15 inches of lightly, wind-stiffened new snow just above the Timberline parking lot at 6000 ft. Drifted areas harbored depths of 2-3 ft.  New snow fell over a stout crust or bare ground below 6000 ft, creating plenty of hidden hazards near the trailhead. 

There was plenty of evidence of recent drifting and some isolated instabilities in drifted terrain along my tour. Digging around in less wind-affected terrain, I typically found a favorable structure over the crust at the new/old snow interface. While I didn't observe any recent avalanches during my field time, a friend reported a small, skier-triggered wind slab that broke 1-2 ft on a wind-loaded feature in the Zigzag Glacier area during the late morning hours. 

Alpine travel has greatly improved thanks to this storm. However, it also masked many hazards, such as open crevasses, bergschrunds, and rocks in previously melted-out areas. Travel cautiously!

Instability was mainly confined to steep, heavily wind-loaded features or sun-exposed slopes near cliff bands that harbored wet snow instabilities as the day heated up.