Quick report
I had 3 objectives for the day
- Keep our eyes peeled for signs of loose wet instability due to the recent rain.
- Dig a pit and perform stability tests on a N face Above Tree line.
- Help one of our long-time volunteers prep for his Pro 1 course.
We toured up to the PCT Notch just east of Leavitt Peak to quickly access a North aspect at 10,800 ft. It was a beautiful day for a walk in the high country today and the PCT notch provides quick access to the upper elevations without a huge commitment day. I chose this area so we could dig a pit and perform stability tests. I was curious about the distribution of the DEC 12 NSF layer we saw propagated yesterday in the crater crest area.
On the way up to the Notch we saw a crown on Leavitt peak ( unknown date of avalanche) and clouds began to roll in from the west. The descent was much better than we expected, wind buff provided a few nice turns.
During the day I looked for Loose wet instability and only saw a few instances of roller balls on E and S aspects around 8,000 ft.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 36
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- trace
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Above freezing temperatures were present all day, and light SW winds kept the snow surface cold on our tour (10k+ ft and above). The morning started out with clear skies, and gradually transitioned to broken skies as clouds moved in from the west.
Snowpack
We saw a few instances of loose wet roller balls from the rain-on-snow event on Saturday. The rain line was around 8,500 feet in the 108 area. Our objective was to dig a pit and see how the DEC 12th NSF layer would react to stability tests. We completed the full gambit of tests because one of our long-time volunteers joined to prep for his Pro 1. We had no results that showed instability. CTN, ECT X, and PST 100/100 x.