Quick report
We decided to investigate the snowpack in Hillman's and see if we could find the same potential layer of concern that forecasters found yesterday between left gully and chute, 40CM down. Travel at the base of Hillmans was easy on top of wind-stiffened snow and old avalanche debris from a week ago. As we hiked uphill, we were surprised to encounter deeper boot penetration in loose graupel (knee deep in the center of the run).
At the top of the Christmas tree, (4500ft NE) we dug down about a meter and found a thin wind skin on top of 10-15CM of F hard graupel sitting on a uniform 1F+/P- mostly uniform layer to the bottom of our pit. No layers of concern were noted. An ECT resulted in no fractures.
Other skiers reported similar conditions (loose graupel) in the lower half of chute this morning.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 23
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 1CM @ Hermit Lake
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Mainly Clear skies, great visibility
Snowpack
We were surprised to find ankle to thigh deep graupel in the main track of Hillman's. This rice textured, loose snow was on top of a mostly uniform layer of 1F+/P- hard snow in our meter deep pit. ECTX.