Far East Ridge of Tamarack Peak

Snow cover in this area is limited to NNE-N-NNW aspect terrain. In areas of filtered to full sun the snowpack is undergoing melt-freeze. In areas of full shade, faceted snow crystals exist. In the N aspect avalanche start zones I examined between 9,200' and 9,400', HS ranged from 3 to 8 cm. Snow cover in these start zones was connected with many anchors protruding up through the snowpack. The faceted snow crystals I saw were 4F- in hardness, moist, 1 to 2 mm striated grains with chains up to 6 mm. Bare ground existed across all ther aspects in this zone.