Peak 3

Snow coverage continues to be sparse.  The snow surface had surface hoar in wind-sheltered zones, and fresh small wind slab pockets or an exposed melt-freeze crust in wind-affected areas. The surface hoar was 6-8mm and mostly at lower elevations at or below the treeline. The melt-freeze crust near the snow surface was supportable.  The center of the gully skied well. We took many pole probe depth measurements on our ascent into the gully. The snow depth in the middle of the gully was deeper than expected.  We found varying depths of snow from 2' to 7'. We also dug many hand pits on our ascent and were able to find small pockets of buried surface hoar in wind-sheltered areas- we think this is one of the same layers of buried surface hoar we found in Arctic Valley the other day, roughly ~5cm down from the snow surface.   In our snowpit, we found two prominent melt-freeze crusts- one just beneath the snow surface and one 45 cm from the snow surface. These crust layers are not a concern now- but over time- as facets continue to develop on either side of the crusts, this could be a problem layer. We found no concerning test results in our snow pit. 

The likelihood of someone triggering an avalanche in the Chugach State Park remains low, we need more snow!