Going to the Sun road

Quick report

Took advantage of the high snow line to travel up the sun road by bike & skis today. I wanted to get a sense of our slow to develop snowpack and see what this next storm might be landing on. I also was curious to see if there have been any recent avalanches on any of the taller peaks that actually have a measurable amount of snow on them. Was dismayed to find that even here near the continental divide things are looking meager. No significant avalanches to report. And hardly enough snow for the hazard to exist yet. Low elevations simply aren't holding. Middle elevations are still mostly rough with lots of vegetation and rock showing. And upper elevations actually have some snow, but unfortunately didn't get out the door early enough to find out how much. No signs of any recent slab avalanche activity. A few recent small (D1-1.5) loose snow slides in steep gullies. Possibly triggered by icefall/rockfall.

Weather

Cloud Cover

few

Mostly clear skies. Calm winds with occasional light gusts from the SW. Temps remained below freezing in the shade.

Snowpack

ZERO snow/ice on the road below the loop (4300'). The roadway began to hold continuous snow/ice around 4600', however slopes above and below remained dry, patchy, or very thin until about 5400'. 15cm snowpack at my turnaround point, the Weeping Wall (~5800'). This snowpack consist of a thin (1cm) breakable crust near the surface with facets above and below it, and moist rounds and melt forms to the ground.