Snowpack

Thompson Pass - Moonlight basin - Upper 1/2 of Schoolbus

Joshua McDonaldIntermountain
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Quick report

Minor wet sluffs/roller balls coming off a few rocky south-facing slopes in the distance.

Weather

Air Temp
28 degrees at the road. Briefly above freezing on higher sunny slopes
Cloud Cover
scattered
Wind Loading
none
Recent Snowfall
Old storm snow settled to 15 cm
Snow Avail For Transport
small smounts

A slight inversion was in place keeping a dense fog bank through Thompson Pass and up the Tsaina Valley. To the south and above the fog, conditions were mostly calm and partly sunny with temperatures just below freezing.

Snowpack

Accumulations from the last storm cycle have settled to about 6 inches of dry stiff powder in most areas. Surfaces underneath include old rain crusts, faceted snow, windboard,  and old consolidated storm snow. No formal pits were dug during this tour since our main concerns are in the top foot of snow. Hand pit results showed moderate results in isolated areas where the past storm snow was a bit deeper. Failure depths were 10cm and 20cm and occurred within storm snow and on old faceted surfaces. Overall good stability was observed in the area with minor areas of reactivity being too small and lacking energy to produce avalanches.