Castle Peak

We went to Castle Peak today for snowpack observations.  While the majority of the route was on south and west aspects and is bare dirt and rock, firm snow and ice exist in some shaded areas of the road and route up the West face.  At 8000' on north aspects there has been some snow loss during this dry spell with around 6'' of snow in some areas with rock and dirt showing in others.  Once above 8500', the snowpack gets deeper with around 1.5 feet of snow on NW-N-NE aspects in wind protected open areas.  The snowpack is made up of mostly weak faceted snow which sits on top of a basal ice layer on the ground.  Wind scouring has occurred in the highest and most wind exposed locations.  Changing aspects slightly off of NW-N-NE results in much less or no snow on more sun exposed slopes and terrain.