Quick report
Today's objective was to assess the Parks Creek area for snow coverage and stability. No signs of snow instability were observed throughout the outing. A snow pit at 7,800 feet showed 180 cm of dense snow, with a pencil hard crust layer in the mix. Pit tests showed unreactive results.
For the most part, snow coverage becomes reasonable for ski and snowmobile travel at 6,000 feet of elevation. Shaded aspects are holding considerably more snow than sunny areas.
No signs of instability were observed.Weather
- Air Temp
- 40
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- N/A
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
A warm, and clear day with calm wind. Occasionally, a light gust of varying direction could be felt.
Snowpack
The observed snowpack resembles a very similar structure to what is found on the south side of Mount Shasta. The most recent soft snow (40 cm) sits on top of a thick (10 cm), pencil hard, melt-freeze crust. Below the crust is over 100 cm of rounded, dense, old snow. Overall, this snowpack appears to be strong, and well compacted.
Snow depths vary across Parks Creek area. At 7,000 feet, a consistent snow depth of 120-145 cm can be found. The deepest measured spot was at 7,800 feet, with 190 cm of snow. On solar aspects, significantly less snow exists, with rock and dirt visible in places.