Summit Creek Glades

Quick report

A day to praise the Gore-tex goddesses! It is sloppy, soggy, and quite wet out there -- hope for some big snow, because we won't be skiing anything low here any time soon (photo). Went for a walkabout on with skis on to check on the snowpack and help someone practice for a pro course. The wind picked up at 1100 with precipitation starting at 1110. We encountered a mix of rain, sn-ain, and snow, becoming all snow above appx. 7,000' around 1330, and all rain below that. Traveled through rain runnels on the S-SE approach (photo). At approximately 7,270', snowpack was 63 cm on a NE aspect. There are two prominent crusts surrounded by various layers of melt forms and rounds: Crusts down 3 cm (15 cm thick) and down 42 cm (3 cm thick). At approximately 7,280' snowpack was 51 cm on a SW aspect. Didn't check this one in much detail, but found a prominent crust 20 cm down.