Elephant Hump

We made observations on Elephants Hump today.  We focused on looking for shallow snowpack areas that still have some weak snow that may be problematic with future loading events.  We dug multiple snowpits on different aspects lower on the peak.  We found mostly similar snowpack structure on northerly aspects with a soft near surface faceted snow layer, a strong and supportable midpack, and a weaker less dense basal facet layer.  We had an ECTP-22 failing on the basal facets on a North aspect at 8420' (38.69189, -119.96945).  Digging on NE and E aspects nearby did not produce unstable snowpack test results, but a similar weak snowpack structure was found on other northerly aspects.

The snowpack is mostly supportable in this area.  Good unconsolidated snow continues to exist on northerly aspects where there are no previous tracks.