Quick report
A nice day for a hike with a little bit of skiing up top. Wind was the word of the day. All slopes were highly wind-affected, and no avalanche concerns were present where I traveled.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Intense previous wind loading, with nearly all surfaces highly wind affected. It was windy at the trailhead but dissipated quickly as I climbed higher. Wind picked up again in the Lake Serene area and above. Some clouds approached the area midday.
Snowpack
Nearly all snow surfaces were highly wind affected. There were patchy areas of softer drifted snow. Some of these locations were only a couple inches deep, and others were over a foot deep. No cracking of significance occurred in these drifts, and they were too small to produce an avalanche anyways. No surface hoar was present, and I hunted in the low-density snow for facets but found minimal signs of faceting. Snow depths at Lake Serene were about 4ft, and at 3200ft were closer to 5ft, but they were highly variable due to wind in both areas. In some locations I found the 1/8 crust on the surface, in others it was over a foot deep. I dug a pit near my max elevation and found a few crusts but all layers were well bonded.
Avalanche
My maximum elevation was 3200ft, and most slopes were below threshold, or could only support small, isolated avalanches. I did see one D2 avalanche which I suspect ran from the cliffs on Mt Index down to Lake Serene, and the debris pile was partially hidden by wind drifted snow.