Quick report
No obvious signs of unstable snow conditions. There was a significant temperature inversion between the Little Alps and Anthony Lakes. Driving up, it was around 28 degrees at Little Alps and 45 degrees at the Anthony Lakes parking lot. Fortunately, the snow surface was staying cool and even on solar aspects lower lower-angle slopes lacked a crust.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 42
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- none
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
It felt like a spring day in the mountains, but fortunately, with long nights and a low sun angle, the warmer temperatures weren't negatively affecting the snow.
Snowpack
There was quite a lot of variability at the location where I dug my snow pit. The top half (3'/90cm) was generally strong and right side up. The bottom half was a mess of crusts of variable hardness. Intermixed between some very hard layers, I found some sugary snow, most prominent in the very bottom 1' of the snowpack.
This information leads me to want to get out and better identify the amount of new snow overlying the 12/18 crust and the nature of the various layers from the crust to the ground.