Gash Point

Juneuary! And by that I mean it was warm out there. Even the creeks sounded like they were gushing. With those warm temperatures, wet avalanche problems were the biggest concern. Snow surfaces were wet on all aspects up to around 8000 ft. I observed natural rollerballs and pinwheels on steep sunny aspects. I did not venture into any avalanche terrain, but I suspect it would have been easy to trigger wet loose avalanches on steep slopes in many locations. I also observed some glide cracks opening up and one natural glide avalanche that likely failed in the last 48 hours. It was on a slab-rocky mid-elevation northeast aspect. 

Above around 8000 ft, the wind was strong enough to keep snow surfaces drier. There is very little snow available for transport, but the wind was transporting some small amounts. It did not appear that there was enough wind transport to create fresh wind slabs. The old wind slabs felt unreactive to stubborn today - I didn't see any signs of instability on them, but they were still obviously present. 

The snowpit I dug on an east aspect at 7500 ft did have poor structure with a 2.5 ft thick slab above facets below the 12/26 crust. However, snowpack tests did not produce any results, and the layer appeared unreactive. 

With the warm temperatures, the snow on the lower Gash trail is melting out rapidly, and there are significant stretches of dirt. 

I dug a snowpit on an east aspect at 7500 ft. Extended column tests did not produce any results (ECTX). The total snow depth (HS) was 94" or 240 cm. The 12/26 crust was buried 75 cm deep and had some small facets just underneath it. The mid-December crusts were buried 49" or 125 cm deep.