Quick report
We travelled on all aspects and elevation bands in a variety of terrain. We found 3-5" of low density snow. There was some wind effect in gully features down low. Above 8,000' there was light wind effect on most slopes facing north and west. There were some small drifts, but wind speeds were generally light so the drifts were generally quite small.
What I was looking for and found was buried and preserved surface hoar. I found this at all elevations in many locations that I travelled. Photos below show it on a windward slope around 8,400'. It would appear that the snow came in with minimal wind and preserved the sourface hoar or other faceted surfaces. Through the day wind would blow off the surface snow and you could see preserved surface hoar sticking out. This was not a problem today, the new snow seemed well bonded to the snow surface, but it is something to keep an eye on going forward.
In very steep terrain I was able to initiate some try loose avalanches failing in the 20-30cm of facets just below the fresh snow surface.
Weather
- Air Temp
- Cold, low teens all day
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 10
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Weather went from overcast to mostly clear. Temperatures stayed cold. Wind where generally light all day with the occasional moderate gust. Light precipitation fizzled out around 10:00am.
Snowpack
We dug on a east aspect at 7,800'. We noted some old faceting above the Christmas Crust, but was unreactive and rounding. There was 10cm of new snow that bonded well to the faceted snow below. The top 20cm of snow has faceted significantly and is F hard. No ECT results.
The new snow came in light and did not disturb the old snow surface.