Mission Ridge

A cold, but surprisingly pleasant day in the Wenatchee Mountains. Fresh snow made for nice, soft turns, with minimal avalanche hazard. We could trigger some small, dry, loose avalanches in steep terrain, but they were stubborn to get moving. Once they gained some momentum, they would run fast and far. The snowpack is shallow and weak, with buried persistent weak layers in the upper snowpack. Currently, these weak layers are not buried deep enough to be a concern, but they will be a significant concern with additional snow. 

We experienced some very minor, isolated cracking in wind-drifted snow at the ridgeline. But stubborn dry loose avalanches were the primary sign of instability.

Snow Surface Summary:
The snowpack is still quite thin in the Wenatchee Mountains, but the recent trickle of storms has significantly improved surface conditions. Surfaces on open, shaded east and north aspects are primarily 10-20cm of soft dry snow. We found subtle drifting at upper-elevation ridgelines, but the surfaces were not stiff or textured. In forested areas, there is 5-10cm of fresh snow over punchy crusts. 

Snowpack Summary:
Our overall take-home from a full snow profile is that the snowpack is complex and weak. The surface hoar at the 2/13 interface is buried 17cm deep with weak, faceted snow below. All this rests on the 2/7 crust. Below this uppermost crust is a 8cm thick layer of weak faceted snow (1-1.5mm) that propagated in an extended column test. The mid-pack is a junky mess of crusts, with weak faceted snow between that is 20cm thick. The lower pack is a thick layer of stronger, rounded facets over refrozen melt-forms to the ground. 

Snow Profiles
Mission Peak
E, 6,780ft, leeward/wind loaded
HS 190cm
2/7 crust ↓27cm
1/28 crust ↓40-60cm

ENE, 6700ft, sheltered
HS 117, Boot Pen 40cm
2/13 (↓17cm) buried surface hoar and weak, faceted grains 
2/7 crust (↓22cm) 
1/28 crust (↓35cm)
ECTP14 ↓27cm on 1.5mm RGfc
CTM SC ↓27cm