Quick report
I did not test many steep slopes or step onto wind loaded terrain. Only observed signs of instabilities were small pinwheels starting on solar aspects.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 29
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- Not observed
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
A bluebird day with calm winds and mild temperatures.
Snowpack
I dug a pit on a SE aspect near 6300' and a NE aspect very close by on the same ridge at a similar elevation. The SE aspect had a HS of 148 and received direct sunlight. There was mostly moist snow below the January crusts, and the two separate crusts we have been seeing elsewhere had been smashed together during a warming event. The slab of new snow that started on February 7 amounted to 27cm and fell on a 1F crust. ECTX. CT11RP down 27cm @crust.
My pit looked entirely different on the NE aspect. This slope was sheltered by direct sun and had cold, dry snow. The new snow since 2/7 measured 32cm and was sitting on a layer of preserved surface hoar. The surface hoar was as large as 15mm and failed with 12 taps in my ECT.
I skied a SE slope down in the evening, and by the time I made my descent, the surface was starting to form a melt freeze crust that made for pretty poor ski quality. Ample sunshine made surface snow on solar aspects moist, but slopes that didn't receive sunlight still had dry snow at the end of the day, even below tree line.
Avalanche
None observed.