Quick report
We observed no cracking while booting up/skiing down. Numerous hand shears showed mixed results, with some producing stubborn sudden partially planar shears on the melt-freeze crust while others producing no failures. We also observed active loading on upper Dodges and Hillmans. The middle and upper portions of Hillmans and Duchess had widespread and connected windslab. Given the increasing slabbyness of the snow as we moved higher, we opted not to climb above the top of the Christmas Tree and skied out from there.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 27
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- None
Snowpack
The snowpack in lower Hillmans runout and towards the bottom of the Christmas Tree consisted of largely boot supportable melt-freeze crust and thin, isolated pockets of unconsolidated wind-drifted snow. As we traveled higher, wind-drifted snow became more widespread, deeper, and more consolidated, reaching depths of 30-45cm and 4F to 1F hardness. We observed a slightly upside down snowpack in this windslab, with F- over 4F midway up the Christmas Tree and 1F over 4F near the top. The softer layer was ~4cm thick just above the melt-freeze crust.