Quick report
The lean lower- and mid-elevation snowpack on the south side of Adams has endured a beating from over a week of high pressure and warm mountain temperatures. While temperatures have been warm, I didn't see much for wet loose activity other than one cornice failure in the Crescent Glacier area. Clear skies have helped surfaces freeze up overnight and thaw each day, which provided good corn skiing/riding with the right aspect and timing - but also very firm surfaces on more shaded, wind-exposed aspects or with the wrong timing.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 40s-low 50s above inversion
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Where I parked at 3700 ft, the car temp read 28 degrees. I didn't have to ride much past the Wicky Shelter around 4200 ft, where I broke through the inversion, and was greeted with warm temps in the 40s.
Snowpack
Below 6000 ft, the snowpack is very aspect-dependent right now. Sun-exposed aspects are melting down( and sometimes to bare ground) while north and east aspects are holding onto more of a meaningful (but still thin) layered snowpack.
In one location, I dug @ 5800 ft on an ENE aspect, and I found a shallow depth of 110 cm. The upper snowpack felt drier (also gloppy with wet skins!) than the surrounding sun-exposed slopes. The upper 45 cm of the snowpack is moist and rests over a slightly weaker 1/3 crust. Snowpack tests didn't yield any remarkable results on this crust, but hand-hardness profiles highlighted weaker grains sandwiched between two crusts from early January. While not concerning right now, it may be worth tracking this interface on northlies in this area if it ever snows again.
HS depths along the way:
Morrison Creek Camp @ 4800' : 50 cm
South Climb TH @ 5500': 75 cm
E aspect @ 5800': 120 cm