Quick report
It was a sunny day with moderate winds, although further west looked stormy. Lower elevations have melted out significantly, and I had to carry my skis over some dirt on the road a couple of times. Above 4500ft, coverage is still okay. Surfaces were supportable, and sunny slopes softened to pleasant corn skiing in the afternoon. Northerly aspects have a breakable crust in some locations, with faceted grains above and below this crust.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
I enjoyed a mostly sunny day looking at the dark clouds further west in the Cascades. Moderate winds were constant throughout the day, but a surface crust prevented much drifting in the elevations I traveled.
Snowpack
Above 5000ft on northerly aspects, I found between 110-120cm of snow. The surface in shady, sheltered locations held a thin layer of small faceted grains over a thin, breakable melt-freeze crust. This surface crust is part of a crust-facet sandwich with faceted snow below the upper crust and above a thicker, supportable melt-freeze crust. The Early February Crust (EFC) is buried between 50-60cm deep The facets over the EFC are still moist from last week's warm temperatures. Small and large column stability tests produced no results. (CTN, ECTX) Prying the blocks off the column was stubborn and revealed a non-planar surface.