Mt Catherine

We continue our flip-flop from winter to spring and back. Today's travels clearly demonstrated that. It looked and felt like winter. A few inches of new snow covered everything. However, underneath, frozen tracks, tree bombs, and avalanche debris highlighted the recent warm sunny weather. 

No major signs of instability.

Below 3500ft: The snowpack at the lowest elevations took a huge hit during the recent warm spells. Bare dirt is common, especially on S-facing slopes. Tree wells are deep and frequently show bare ground. 

Above 4000ft, the snowpack increases in depth substantially. We found about 2-4 inches (5-10cm) of recent snow over a generally strong and supportable (but edgeable) crust. This week's cold weather froze the snow surface, including old tracks, rollerballs, treebombs, and avalanche debris. This resulted in a firm and irregular surface now capped by a few inches of softer snow. 

Wind: We saw some drifting and very small wind features forming in exposed openings as low as 3400ft. At these lower elevations, there just isn't enough new snow to create a wind slab issue. It did leave us wondering what might be happening higher in the terrain where more new snow fell. 

Wet Loose: Even though it was snowing, the recent snow was heavy and sticky. We triggered a few small rollerballs and a couple of mini wet loose "push-o-lanches" on steeper slopes. These tiny slides wouldn't pose too much of a danger unless you slid with them into an open creek. 

Our biggest hazards of the day included open creek holes, firm icy tree wells, and frozen irregular surfaces. 

Upper Snowpack: A profile on a N-facing slope at 4200ft showed numerous layers still present in the upper snowpack. Despite being able to see these layers, the upper snowpack appeared strong and well bonded.