Pea Gravel Ridge

Riding conditions have improved significantly with 10-13 inches of new snow that fell over a widespread stout crust since the 12th. Friday morning offered a brief break in the storm action, so wind slabs appeared more stubborn by the time we crested into middle elevation, wind loaded terrain. The most recent snowfall is low density and is quite blower for Mt. Hood standards, so small dry loose sluffs were easy to push in steep terrain. Snowfall rates intensified by late morning. 

Instability was confined to wind loaded features above 5800 ft.

We're finally making meaningful gains once again and the riding conditions have improved significantly in the last 24 hrs.

In general, we found 10-13 inches of low-density new snow resting over the stout crust that was buried March 12th. Outside of wind-loaded terrain, the new snow was still lacking slab-like characteristics, so it was hard to determine how the new snow bonded to the old snow surface. In more loaded areas, the snowpack was reactive to our weight using uptracks tests and quick snowpack tests also highlighted this reactivity. These 4F+/1F wind stiffened slabs ranged from 6-15 inches below 6500 ft in the areas we traveled. While the thickest slabs existed on leeward slopes, we also found these slabs along the W aspects of Pea Gravel.

South aspects have a more a comlex crust siuation. Yesterday's warming left a thin sun crust along solars that was buried roughly 3-4 inches by Friday morning. Hand pits easily failed on a weaker interface just beneath the crust. While this wasn't concerning today, it will be something to watch in the coming days as we build more load over this. 

The new snow is low-density, so it was surprisingly easy to push dry loose sluffs in steeper features. These were generally small and inconsequential in the terrain we traveled in. 

Despite all the new snow, we still observed old, scoured icy surfaces on alpine ridgelines and windward aspects.