Quick report
We observed a thin slab of recent storm snow overlying faceted grains sitting on a firm November crust. We were surprised to not encounter a rain crust on the surface. It appears the 12/9-10 rain event didn't make it this far south, or it faceted quickly.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- Trace
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Light flurries on exit in the afternoon, which changed over to light rain in the lower elevations.
Snowpack
The upper ~15 cm of the snowpack consists of decomposing recent storm snow. Beneath this layer lies an additional 10–15 cm of loose faceted grains resting on the November crust. Overall slab thickness was thin and showed poor structure; however, we couldn't get propagation in any of our tests. No surface rain crust was observed at or near hut elevation. While traveling up the East Fork drainage, we encountered intermittent crust layers with faceted snow beneath them. Coyote had 42 cm on the snow stake and Tornak has 48 cm. Both are equipped to measure SWE now!