Quick report
From the trailhead to 5000', there were bare spots on the road, but I've done worse damage to a snowmobile. 0-6" of snow. At 5500' I found 30cm/1' of snow. And from 6000-6700', there is 80-130cm or 3-4'.
Roughly a dozen trees were across the clear creek road just above 5000'. One was an almost 4' diameter at breast height (wide) monster doug fir that is barely duckable now but will be challenging to pass soon. Anyone have a saw with a long bar?
In the locations I traveled, I would not identify an avalanche problem and my observations showed Low danger.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 27
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 4500
- Recent Snowfall
- 10
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Bucking forecasts and reports from other zones, the wind stayed largely calm. The slightest sprinkling of rain at the trailhead progressed with time and elevation gain to a full on graupel and rimed particles deluge at Fish Lake. Temps cooled slightly through the PM.
Snowpack
At low elevations below 5k', the snowpack is saturated after many days without a refreeze. From 5-6k', there is a 1cm surface crust. This crust increases in thickness up to 7 cm or almost 3" and was Pencil to Knife hard. As it was buried today and may be a significant date, we'll call it the 12/26 crust.
The surface crust is supportable to skis, semi-supportable to a snowmobile, and my boots punched in 50cm or 1.5'. This is an easy gauge of its hardness/thickness. Foot penetration or boot pen can also be a rough measure of how much snow is available for wind transport.
In long column tests (ECT's), one test had propagation just below the 12/26 crust and 1 test did not propagate, failing within the crust sandwich. Hmmmm, inconclusive. Stay tuned for changes with time and increased weight of the slab above it. (see pit profile in photos).