Mt. Eva

We toured up Mt. Eva today to see how much new snow had fallen and how it was bonding to the crust beneath from last weeks warm storms. We found 8 to 10" of new snow from 300' where we started our tour to 3,100' at our high point. There were strong south winds blowing through the day blowing snow from the ridgelines. We found the crust from last weeks storm reached 3,100' and higher. We dug two snowpits and got stable results. The stout crust is keeping us from being able to impact any layers below. As we skied down we triggered a soft small wind slab at 1,600' on a small test slope. We also triggered dry loose avalanches on steep slopes that ran far. The main concern in this area for now is wind slabs and dry loose. We are keeping an eye on the December facets and haven't been to Lost Lake yet since the warm storms so it's worth keeping in mind that a very large avalanche could be triggered on this layer if you find a thin spot above 2,500'. Especially above 3,000' where the most recent crust thins.

There was 8 to 10" of new snow from 300' to 3,100'. There was quite a bit less snow in the trees where the canopy prevented snow from reaching the ground. We noticed strong south wind was transporting snow on the ridgelines and once we reached treeline some of the snow was wind affected and stiff. We dug a snowpit at 2,200' and found a 6" (15cm) melt-freeze crust under the new snow. The December facets were 4' down and they were very moist and sticking together. We got a stable test result (DTN). The total height of snow in this pit was 6' (180cm). We climbed the west ridge and dug another pit at 3,100'. It was on the ridge so not a great representative spot, but it gave us some good information. The total height of snow was 4' (125cm). Under the 10" of new snow was a 4" melt-freeze crust, which means it rained and there was wet snow to at least 3,100' and higher during last weeks storm. We got a stable result in this pit as well (ECTX).