Point 6

Rain and warm temperatures created wet snow that refroze overnight in the Rattlesnake. We encountered some still moist surface snow on a west aspect. The cloud coverage seemed to be keeping the snow relatively cool today overall.

The persistent slab problem remains a hazard. We got interesting propagating results in snowpits on a west and northeast aspect on weak, faceted snow underneath a slab. As we worked our way up, we did not see obvious signs of instability, such as cracking and collapsing. The likelihood of the persistent slab problem is dropping; however, if you were to trigger one, it would be of high consequence.

Numerous wet loose avalanches were observed along road cuts on the drive up to snowbowl. We also saw many other signs of previous warming; roller balls, pinwheels, and large clumps of snow that fell from trees. We got propogating results in snowpits on west and north east aspects on weak layers below a slab.

A very thin rain crust formed on the surface on all aspects and elevations. We found moist snow in the top 10cm of our snowpit on a west aspect. 

Our snowpit on a west aspect at 7600' was 43 inches (110cm). We found a slab overlaying weak, faceted snow and depth hoar at the ground. We performed an extended column test and got a hard propagating result that released in two different layers at the same time; the top of the facets and the top of the depth hoar (ECTP(P?)23). We found a similar structure in our snowpit on a northeast aspect at 7700' with the addition of a buried surface hoar sitting on top of weak facets at the ground. In our extended column test, we got another hard propagating result on this buried surface hoar (ECTP23). The depth of this pit was 42 inches (108cm).