Mud Pass - Snake River Range

The sun was starting to affect new snow by 11 am. By 2 pm, the top 2 inches of surface snow was moist up to 9200'. While the snowpack was heating up, we only noted one wet loose avalanche on steep rocky terrain. This avalanche occurred on an E aspect at 9200' on Smoky Hollow Peak. Partly cloudy skies in the afternoon obscured solar input, preventing the snowpack from reaching its tipping point and shedding surface snow, even at low elevations. 

Winds were generally calm through the day, transitioning to light from the west in the afternoon. There was no evidence of wind-transported snow on any of the slopes we rode. However, NE-facing slopes off the ridgeline of Starvation Peak showed rippled surfaces indicating winds had been cross-loading the slope previously. We saw multiple natural storm slabs along ridgelines. Many of these were small (D1 or less) but showed similar characteristics of failing on NE-facing slopes around 9000'. 

Tomorrow as temperatures increase with clearer skies, I would expect to see increased wet avalanche activity tomorrow - particularly on solar aspects where new snow still sits and can run downhill. Also, watch for trees on steep solar slopes that are still holding snow. Snow falling out of tree branches can quickly start a wet loose avalanche. 

The total height of the snow was 300cm (almost 10 feet) at 8900' on a NE aspect near Mud Pass. Approximately 8" of new snow is sitting on top of a thin melt-freeze crust that developed 2 days ago. A harder melt-freeze crust, formed on 3/21, exists 16 inches down with a thin layer of small faceting snow crystal on the top of the crust layer. Recent avalanches through all three zones have failed on the deeper melt-freeze layer. Snowpit results yielded a PSTend 76/120 on the 3/21 layer. These results suggest improving stability on the crust layer but more time is needed to allow the snowpack to adjust. No crust layers were on N aspects at 9000' near Mud Pass.