Mt. Hood south side

Joe and I spotted the avalanche crown in the crater from the Timberline parking lot and we quickly decided that our goal was to get a closer look at it. On our way up, we observed a 2-inch thick sun crust on solar aspects below 7,000'. The crust did not limit uphill travel and it disappeared above 7,500' where we found dry snow up to our high point at around 10,000'.

We did a moving tour and visited several different aspects and elevations to look for evidence of instabilities on the surface. We observed evidence of cross-loading and wind slabs on an SSW aspect of the upper White River. We also observed a small avalanche crown on the eastern aspect of the upper White River, although it was likely a couple of days old. Most notably, we observed a D2 wind-drifted soft-slab avalanche in the crater between the W. Crater Rim and the Old Chute. The crown was approximately 200 feet wide and it was likely naturally triggered by falling rime-ice from the warmer temperatures late in the day yesterday. The debris ran below Illumination Rock, about 1,500 feet.

The ski quality above 7,000' was spectacular. By late morning below 7,000' on solar aspects, the snow was wet and grabby. We observed rollerballs at middle elevations on solar aspects at noon.

We observed a couple crowns, most notably the D2 in the crater. Around noon, we observed rollerballs on solar aspects at middle elevations.