Quick report
The great hike or ski debate took place at the trailhead where hiking ultimately won out. Unfortunately, we discovered that there was actually just enough snow higher up to make skiing doable and maybe even fun! We shall see if it all gets washed away by the rain...
Weather
- Air Temp
- 34
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 4100
- Recent Snowfall
- 10-32
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
The truck read 34 degrees both in the morning and in the afternoon upon our return. Some form of light to moderate precipitation fell all day, which one you got depended on your elevation. The wind was calm to the point of being nearly undiscernible but it seemed to be coming from the north. The cloud layer was very low and significantly reduced visibility the higher up you went.
Snowpack
From the trailhead to about 4100 ft, we found anywhere from bare ground to 15cm (6in) of saturated snow. There was a slight increase in depth but continued saturation between 41-4300 ft. From 43-5500 ft - the highest we traveled - snow depths increased noticeably, and surfaces were dry, although the new snow was very dense and cohesive.
We dug a pit on a SE aspect at 5187 ft. The depth of this pit was 52cm (20in). We found a 32cm (13in) slab of cohesive new/recent snow overlaying mois-wet snow to the ground. Within the moist-wet snow was a melt freeze crust on the verge of melting out. We performed extended column tests and got a moderate non-propagating result (ECTN18) 26cm (10in) down within the new/recent snow and then a hard non-propagating result (ECTN23) down 40cm below the crust.
We dug another pit on a W aspect at 5531 ft. The depth of this pit was 46cm (18in). We found a similar structure. A cohesive slab 29cm (11in) deep overlayed moist snow to the ground. The difference in this pit was that the melt freeze crust was more discernible and lay at the top of the moist snow instead of within it. Additionally, the moist snow was just moist, not moist-wet. We performed a compression test and got a hard sudden collapse (CT21 SC) 30cm (12in) down below the crust.