Quick report
Overall snow seemed stable, the surface snow did vary in how well it bonded to the icy bed surface underneath. Solar effect made the surface sticky with patchy glossy areas on old crusty terrain. Informal hand shears did not produce unstable results. Looking around the bowl, noticed areas with slough like debris in runouts of Chute and left gully. Prior to entering the bowl, noticed avalanche debris in the runout of Hillman's Highway. Unable to see a starting point. Booting up Lobster Claw later in the day (~14:30), we were able to travel without crampons for the most part, but opted to wear them for shallower areas where we kicked through the new snow to the icy bed surface underneath. The climbers’ left variation was in the shade and starting to refreeze some as we climbed. With colder temps tonight into tomorrow, I would expect the wet snowpack to lock up, at least on the surface. No cracking, or collapsing observed.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 25
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Rain Elevation
- N/A
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Warmer temperatures and solar gain were warming the snow surface throughout the day. Northwest winds were calm and increased throughout the afternoon. Skies were mostly sunny with scattered clouds rolling in around the same time winds picked up. Air temperatures measured 25˚F.
Snowpack
Measured snow to be 158 cm deep where the pit was dug. ECTn22 at 8cm-broke on this layer with a Q3 shear. Layer had small particles measuring 1-1.5mm. The layer did not appear to be weak, but more so unintegrated with the surface below. At our test site, we found pretty uniform snow varying subtly between P+, P, and P-. A shovel shear that required a lot of pressure released a hard slab without a clean break. Boot penetration was 10cm. Surface of the snow temperature measured -4˚C. Temperatures varied between -5˚C to -7˚C until 87cm. Was curious about this aspect because of the wind direction and speed yesterday as well as the snow that was available for transport.