Pete's North

We toured from the Johnson Pass north trailhead up to 1600' on Pete's South to look at how much snow this end of the pass received as well as the distribution and sensitivity of the weak snow that developed during the drought in early February. 

From the road to 1500' the snowpack was old melt-freeze with a trace of new snow in clear areas. Above 1500' as the snow transitioned to dry, we found a layer of upright surface hoar 1-2 cm thick buried 5" deep. With the south end of the pass receiving only 5" of new snow there is not a very large slab on this layer compared to the 12" the northern end of Turnigan Pass received.

In Turnigan Pass we are consistently finding a layer of buried surface hoar in wind-sheltered terrain and on non-solar aspects anywhere from 12" to 5" deep, however, it is difficult to predict where this persistent weak layer will be lurking without digging into the snow. Careful route choice and investigation are important when dealing with a weak layer of this nature.