Mud Pass

Approximately 3m of snow on the ground near Mud Pass (9,000') and 250cm on the ground at 8100'. East faces of Starvation Peak and Smoky Hollow contain no evidence of recent avalanche activity. Spoke to some other folks riding who saw sluffing on the typical steep faces around Starvation Peak. This part of the Snake River Range has a very deep snowpack. I dug down 1.5m and found right side up Fist to Pencil hardness with a very friable 1cm zipper crust buried 20cm down from surface. The snowpack at lower elevations is around three feet thick with facets or depth hoar at the ground. Low elevations in this zone are largely burned over with lots of anchors but in other areas the warming on the horizon makes me think of the potential for wet slides on the ground.

The most notable hazard was  the massive cornices. They are large, up to 10-12 feet with new and more recent cornices and stacked on top of the older and much larger, drooping cornices.