Pear Lake

Last week the Pear Lake Winter Hut staff (employed by Sequoia Parks Conservancy) were in the field preparing the hut for a season of guests. Accessed by the Wolverton trailhead, this area is a popular entry / exit for trans- sierra ski tours. Travel on snow was possible from the parking lot and coverage was better than expected all the way to the hut. Despite a long list of chores, we were able to enjoy a few short tours in shark infested waters. A gamut of conditions were observed including enjoyable skiing on soft snow in sheltered north facing slopes and in more exposed areas stripped surfaces with wind and sun crusts. Widespread cracking and collapsing in the upper snowpack were observed on most aspects. Small crowns were visible on steep slopes along many exposed cliff areas. Average snow depth in the area is around 2'. My quick snow-pit showed an impressive multi-deck sandwich of burly crusts layered in between soft snow, trackable to the hand-full of early season snow and high pressure events. I expected my shovel shear test to release on one of the bigger layers at a storm interface but instead it popped out closer to the surface, at a nearly imperceptible layer in more recent storm snow. With more snow forecast this week it will be interesting to see how this sandwich holds up. I'll certainly avoid exposed areas when I return.