Quick report
A very quick off duty evening ski tour on my way to a meeting to check out the effects of warm up on meltwater in the snowpack just after the heat of the day.
No cracking and collapsing observed in terrain I traveled.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Evening arriving at the pullout at 17:30 and leaving at 18:30, temperatures were warm enough that flip-flops felt like the appropriate footwear choice. Climbing up to ridgeline on Avalanche Peak, winds were a bit breezier than forecasted: sustained at the upper end of light with moderate gusts out of the W/SW. No SAFT as the high pressure dome and heat wave continue on another day.
Snowpack
Leaving the truck close to 17:30, surfaces were sloppy and wet down 15cm where they turned moist for another 30cm+. Even on the summit of Avalanche Peak where winds were sustained at the upper end of light / lower end of moderate, surfaces had a thin crust from the cool wind but the snowpack was wet immediately beneath then still at 18:00. I exposed a small pit wall on my ascent on a SW aspect near 8600' to let sit out in the sun and let the meltwater percolating. Coming back to this less than an hour later and making a fresh cut back into the wall, I found meltwater pooling at several crusts, making them a goopy, wet consistency. Near the base of the snowpack here I also found wet snow, as the meltwater at these middle and lower elevations attempts to drain out of the snowpack during our meltdown period. See video for more information.
Avalanche
I did not observe any avalanches other than wet dribbles off of rocks and small wet loose slides in the terrain I immediately traveled through. However I could see several wet slab avalanches in the Boulders that Ben reported in his observation from the same date on Senate Peak.