Jim Hill

Quick report

Cracking

isolated

At 6,100ft, NNE, we were able to get small chunks of snow to break and displace down-slope when undercut. These were relatively stubborn. They slid on the early February crust, were only as big as our skis, and didn't propagate beyond them. While descending, I ski cut a small convex test slope (5,700ft, N, ~40deg), which produced multiple cracks that radiated out from the ski cut. The cracks went down to the early February crust and opened up 2-3," but the slope didn't slide. This was in wind-sheltered terrain.

Weather

Air Temp

Cloud Cover

obscured

Wind Loading

light

Recent Snowfall

0.5

Snow Avail For Transport

small smounts

Overcast, mild, calm with light snow in the afternoon. Low to mid-level clouds generally increased tho they were intermittent even late in the day. Fleeting views to ridgetops. Saw no blowing snow. However, we saw some covered tracks and evidence of wind transport that occurred during the day > 6,000ft.

Snowpack

Snow surfaces are mostly soft on northerly aspects in open terrain. Surfaces felt slightly "thick" and grabby to varying degrees at a range of elevations. Above 6,000ft, this was mostly due to wind-stiffening. Below 3,800ft, warm temperatures moistened the snow.

Below 4,000ft, there's a small amount of snow (~5-8cm) over the early February crust. At low elevations, the surface has been moistened and frozen multiple times. Above that elevation, recent snow totals increase quickly: 30cm over the EFC at 5,200ft, N. 45cm over the EFC @ 6,100ft, NE. Under dense tree canopy, there's significantly less snow over the crust.

At a profile site (6090ft, NNE, HS 209cm) we found a thick layer of 1-2mm facets (↓28cm) just above the early February crust. At this location, overlying snow wasn't cohesive enough to produce test results.

Any wind-drifted snow we found was stubborn to unreactive.

Quick report

Weather

Snowpack

Avalanche