Mantioba

Overall, I did not observe any red flags or find unstable results in my snowpit tests. The snowpack above treeline looked surprisingly strong compared to my prior visits to Summit Lake earlier this season. There is some complicated snowpack structure from roughly 2000-2500' from alternating rain and snow events over the past two weeks. It is possible that some weak layers could develop around those crusts and it is worth testing the snowpack if you are in steep terrain around those elevations. The snowpack at upper elevations was deeper than I expected and I did not identify any concerning weak layers. 

On the way up I used my ski poles and hand pits to check the snowpack structure near the surface and then dug a pit at 3200' on a W aspect. Below 2000' most of the snowpack was a frozen block with a little bit of dry snow on top (dust on crust). Above 2000' the dry snow on top started to get deeper (4-6") and there were several layers of melt freeze crusts within the upper foot of the snowpack. The crusts were supportable to the weight of a skier, but I was able to break through them with my ski pole and it felt like there could be some weaker snow layers between the crusts. Above 2500' the upper snowpack was dry. I was surprised to find a 6' deep (180 cm) snowpack at 3200' on a W aspect where I dug my pit. I did not find any concerning weak layers in the upper 4' (130 cm) of the snowpack and did not get any test results in the pit (ECT X, CT N). The snowpack was right side up and felt quite strong. There was a melt freeze layer about 2' deep (65 cm) but I didn't see any weak layers around it. There was a layer of surface hoar buried about an inch below the surface that looked like it was still standing up. We will definitely be keeping track of that into the future.