Schoolbus

Unseasonably mild and pleasant conditions continue throughout the area.  I found snow surfaces to be crusty and wet underneath along the roadway and up to about 2700, where things quickly improved. 20-30 cm of new snow above 3000 feet has created good to excellent conditions going up and down. Gradual incremental loading and relatively warm weather are helping to create a strong, well-bonded upper snowpack, although deeply buried weak layers are still a concern as the healing process will take some time. 

Few signs of instability other than cracking on thin (5-10 cm) wind-affected storm snow in isolated areas above 3500 feet.

Lower elevations from the road to 2700ft had an interesting mix of rain crust, roller balls, and some large granular meltforms with a few centimeters of wet snow underneath. The remainder of the snowpack was dry.  I dug several hasty pits on the way up, looking for the 1/26 buried surface hoar that formed below 3000 feet, but did not observe it. The old interface appeared to be buried 40cm deep, but the snow grains were all rounded.  

Above 2700 feet, I found 20-30cm of lightly consolidated dry storm snow that became stiffer with elevation. 

Above 3500 feet, Isolated pockets of slabby snow 5-15 cm deep would produce easy hand shears, but for the most part, our accumulating storm snow appeared well-bonded. Although not observed, I expect an increased chance of finding stiff snow that is sensitive to triggers near and below ridgetops. 

A pit at 4200 feet produced test results (ECTN4) down 12cm within storm snow, and (ECTN12) down 25 at a storm snow interface.