Quick report
I spent the morning digging holes in undisturbed areas around Crystal Mountain to help keep tabs on our persistent weak layers and see how the warm-up was affecting the snow.
In the morning, a breakable surface crust was found on slopes that got moist on Friday. This crust appeared to break down throughout the morning, making travel and skiing easier.
There's also plenty of wind-affected slopes, with drifts, textured surfaces, and firm, hollow-feeling snow. A result of the major wind event on Thursday and Friday.
Overall, it was nice weather and an easy day on the legs as I continued to track this tricky snowpack as we head into a warm-up.
Numerous recent and new wet loose slides were observed.Weather
Mostly sunny with a slight breeze. Got warm throughout the morning.
Snowpack
Our persistent weak layers show some signs of improvement, but not much. Facets, buried surface hoar, and weak brittle crusts all still exist. I dug on a westerly aspect today, plus a northerly, and the setup was largely the same. I would say that test results were a bit more concerning on the northerly slopes, just because PST cut lengths were a bit shorter. They were in the ballpark, though. So that may have just been a factor of spatial variability as much as aspect.
PST cut lengths were in the low 40s/100 END on W and mid 30s/100 END on N.
Avalanche
Numerous large avalanches were spotted in Mount Rainier National Park. Some of the crowns were filled in by the recent winds, meaning they failed a few days ago.