Quick report
Observation goals for the day were snowpack familiarization after 3 weeks abroad… to assess bonding of recent storm snow to old interfaces and investigate the basal structure of the snowpack. Toured from Convict Lake up to the McGee Mountain ridgeline, encountering a wide variety of surface conditions. Observed boot-top powder on sheltered north aspects, stiff and supportable wind board in exposed areas, and everything in between! Saw significant scouring on SW aspects… some slopes were scoured almost to the ground! Best skiing was on north-facing aspects between ~9,500–10,500 ft. Where powder was deep and low density, travel was almost too slow on lower-angle terrain. Ski quality overall ~6/10! No whumphing or cracking observed throughout the day. Hand pits dug to the ground in our pit revealed no obvious facets, which was somewhat surprising. Due to failing daylight, we did not fully assess the basal structure /: Overall, at our pit location the snowpack showed good bonding with no obvious signs of instability. BUT we did not dig to the ground !
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Bluebird and calm day.
Snowpack
Dug a pit at 10,100’ on a north facing, ~20° slope. Snowpack appeared well bonded and generally right-side-up. HS was 195cm. 0cm is surface. • 0–37 cm: F • 37–47 cm: 4F • 47–70 cm: 1F • 70–93 cm: P • 93–94 cm: K (rain crust) • 94–140 cm: P Our stability test resulted in an ECTX… which was a bit surprising to us. If we had more time, we would have both dug deeper in the current pit, and likely dug another pit.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 10000 ft
Two natural D1.5-D2 avalanches on East aspects of Mini Morrison that look to have been either wind or storm slabs that both stepped down during Sundays storm.