Quick report
The snowpack is generally stable, with low coverage being the main concern. The top third of the snowpack is continuing to facet, while the mid-pack consolidates. When there is precipitation in the forecast, this upper portion of the snowpack will be something to keep an eye on before it gets buried.
No recent signs of instability observedWeather
- Air Temp
- Below 32° in shade
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- N/A
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Skies were mostly clear. Winds were calm to light out of the S/SW. Air temperature was 28° at 12:30, 10,320'.
Snowpack
Leaving the truck around 11:30am, we found 10-15cm of snow on the ground near parking at 9740'. Despite the appearance of wind-texturing and sastrugi, surfaces were primarily soft and faceted. The cold micro-climate in the drainage and recent weather patterns have faceted the upper third of the snowpack in most locations. Preserved 2-4mm surface hoar (SH) was widespread up to 10300'. HS varied between 45-72cm from 9900'-11,000', generally increasing with elevation in sheltered terrain.
Climbing up onto N facing slope at 10790', we found a progressively settled snowpack with the top third continuing to facet further than a week prior and the midpack consolidating further. The basal facets (FC) were present at 2mm but were rounding and proved unreactive in snowpack tests (ECTX). The snowpack structure is generally stable, providing soft surfaces and consolidated snow mid-pack to help cover obstacles for now. However, this continually weakening upper portion of the snowpack will likely become an issue after the weak grains are buried during our next storm. HS 67cm, with 3-4mm surface hoar on the surface. The top 15cm of the snowpack was F hard 2-3mm facets (FC). This overlaid 17cm of 4F facets and starting to round facets. The next 30cm of the snowpack had 1mm rounding facets, with very few grains still having flat faces and sharp edges. The bottom ~2-5cm of the snowpack were rounding FC mentioned above.
Coverage was our primary concern in our travels for the day, with a menu of rocks, larger rocks, and logs never too far away from our bases. Moderate amounts of snow were available for transport. However, this extended period of calm winds, uncharacteristic for the E. Sierra, has not transported any more snow since the last storm.