Rock Creek Snowpack

I set out to dig a hole around 10,000 ft. on a northeast aspect in Rock Creek.

• I saw no major signs of instability—only one incident of localized cracking underfoot.
• East-facing slopes have good coverage down to 9000 ft, while west-facing slopes are still bushy and have been stripped by strong winds up high.
• The upper snowpack is faceting on shady aspects. I got no propagating test results in my snow pit.

I found only rounding facets interspersed with decomposing precipitation particles near the ground in my snow pit. Two of my small column tests gave me sudden planar results on this layer with hard force, while my large column tests had no results. Most surfaces were covered by thin, soft wind slabs ranging from an inch to 8 inches thick. Sunny slopes steeper than about 30 degrees got slightly moist in the sun and crusted over in the shade of the afternoon. The temperature gradient in the upper snowpack is strong, and the top foot or so is faceting.