Quick report
We toured from the Crow Creek trailhead towards Magpie to a high point of 4000'. Along our route, we dug two snow pits at 2500' and 4000' to assess the state of the snowpack and look for the Valentine's buried surface hoar. The Valentine's buried surface hoar was present 50 cm deep in our snowpit near treeline at 2500'. It was unreactive in our snow pit tests (ECTX). We kept to low-angle terrain and avoided traveling near runout zones from steeper terrain above. In a quick pit at 4000', we did not observe the Valentine's layer. The snow surface was moist and soft from the relatively warm temperatures of the day. We enjoyed the soft corn skiing back to the car.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
The weather was mild, with light winds and mild temperatures. Clouds built up in the afternoon, obscuring the sky and our visibility.
Snowpack
The snow surface was moist and soft up to our high point of 4000' as it began to transition to dry. We dug a snow pit at 2500' and found that the top 30 cm of the snowpack was moist due to the recent warming. The Valentine's buried surface hoar was buried 50 cm deep and was unreactive in our tests (ECTX). At 4000', we dug a quick pit and found a relatively homogenous snowpack with no obvious weak layers.
Avalanche
Evidence of a widespread wet loose avalanche cycle is observable around this region, especially on steep solar slopes.