Quick report
- Cracking
- Observed
Pretty western out there today, howling winds, drifting snow, etc. Just getting to the trailhead was an adventure and that was even later in the AM. Snowfall began to wane a bit by the afternoon, though still S 1/minus 1 from around noon to three, with a couple squalls tossed in. Winds began to back down a bit while we were up there, but the open meadows and ridges were still blowing and drifting at the end of our tour - though with less vengeance than earlier in the day. No surprises here, but a very touchy snowpack currently. Slight cracking, and it was easy to feel the structural differences just under our height of new snow. I was getting columns to break upon isolation from pole pits at 8,400' SE down 60cm and at 9,200' E down approx. 70cm with small grained facets surrounding a weak melt freeze crust. The upside down nature of the snow from yesterday seemed to be less intense today and the storm was capping with some lighter density snow and a bit of graupel. - however you were still riding a bit on top of it and we now have a more consolidated slab.