Bullion Peak and Crown Point

I took a walk in the Crystal area to keep tabs on our persistent weak layers and get a sense for how the top of the snowpack was faring after some rain and snow this week.

Below the roughly 3-4 inches of new snow, a new crust is forming. It is not boot supportable, but is mostly ski supportable. 

At upper elevations, evidence of last night's wind was easy to spot. Textured surfaces, new drifts, stiff hollow-feeling snow, and fresh cornice development were all observed. Bullion Bowl looked wind-hammered.

The wind skin cracked easily during uptrack tests, and in larger drifts, I was able to get some pockets of wind slab to fail. 

The surprise was the sunshine - it resulted in rollerballs and pinwheels as snow shed from trees onto steep slopes below. Not enough to really call a wet loose.

I was able to push just the smallest bit of snow on the crust during my descent.

I observed localized surface cracking in wind-stiffened snow, but no long shooting cracks.

The snowpack has shown signs of improvement in the last week in some ways. The 2/13 is getting harder to distinguish, but the 2/7 remains weak. It appears that both interfaces have seen some warmth or water and show signs of rounding (healing), but facets are still present. 

So the grains are looking better, but the test results have shifted. Previously we weren't getting much out of compression or extended column tests. Today I got propagating results in my extended column tests and sudden collapses in my compression tests. 

Propagation saw tests continue to fail END, but the cut lengths have increased since last week.

In the upper snowpack, a new crust is slowly forming, but it is not solid, yet. It's anywhere from 2-8cm thick.