Anthony Lakes

As mentioned above we dug three snowpits, which varied in depth from 60-80CM (2-2'+).  The warmup that occurred during December 5-7, which included rain on snow was very obvious.  A crust below the new snow was approximately 15cm or 6" thick, and at the elevations we traveled the rain had wetted the snow to the ground.  The snow below the crust fell earlier in the season and was transforming into weak-faceted snow (sugar snow).  Due to the rain penetrating through the snowpack, the facets were clumping together and were wet, but still reactive in our snowpack tests.  

It will be interesting to dig into the snowpack at upper elevations in the Northern Wallowas and Southern Wallowas to see what impact the rain had on the early-season snow.