Lincoln Ridge

We toured N-E-S and an little bit of W aspect terrain between 6,700' and 7,800' in the Yuba Pass/Lincoln Ridge area this morning. The snow surface conditions we observed match well with other observations from along the Sierra Crest in this elevation range. NW-N-NE-ENE aspect terrain held surface facets up to 6 inches deep on top of the very supportable Jan 3 rain crust. Shaded wind protected slopes below treeline on these aspects held the thickest layer of soft (F hard) surface facets. Wind exposed slopes at near treeline and above treeline that previously held firm wind scoured and wind packed snow surfaces were now softer surface facets 2 to 3 inches deep.

Moving onto sun exposed E-S-W aspect terrain we encountered very thin surface melt-freeze crust, often on top of surface facets on the E and W aspect terrain with indirect sun exposure. On S aspect terrain with direct sun exposure, snow surface melt affecting the top inch of the snowpack was present.

We noted some large surface hoar in excess of 10 mm, but it was limited to bottom of drainages and was already lying down.

Ongoing faceting of the upper snowpack above the Jan 3 rain crust.