Anderson Mtn

Today's goal was to fill in some holes in the compass before the weekend snow arrives.

Previous field days have given us a good understanding of snowpack structure on upper elevation north and east aspects (facets top to bottom) and south aspects (crust and facet combinations). We have uncertainty with conditions at mid elevation, especially on west aspects. Today, our primary objective was to travel through these zones and assess conditions.

What we found was a shallow snowpack, faceted from top to bottom. The primary concern moving forward is the widespread surface hoar on all aspects except for the most solar south facing slopes. In many areas, surface hoar flakes were upwards of 2cm. What this means moving forward is undetermined. If it is preserved when the new snow arrives, we can expect our persistent slab problem to extend to mid elevations and most aspects.