Hidden Peak

Dust on crust conditions prevailed at the trailhead from yesterdays snow fall and this morning's snow showers. As we gained elevation, storm snow increased, and the supportable crust gradually diminished. Near 7,300', the crust was breakable, and at 7,700' on a NE aspect, the crust was gone. Conditions above this point exceeded expectations, with cold, unconsolidated snow around 20cm in depth (5 to 8 cm of new snow from today on top of soft snow from the storm on Wednesday night). Winds were light, and wind effect was almost non-existent. We noted poor bonding between the old snow / new snow interface, but present conditions made this inconsequential. Wind slab development at Hidden during our tour was very minor. Test slopes produced cracks 2' in length and ~4" deep in soft slabs that disintegrated into loose snow as they traveled downslope. Winds appeared to be increasing, but speeds remained light, and minimal snow transport was observed.

We produced isolated cracking on ridge top wind loaded test slopes at 9,000' on a NE aspect. Cracks were limited to ~2' in length and ~4" in depth. Slabs were soft and disintegrated into loose snow as they moved down slope. Ski cuts in undercut terrain also produced similar sized cracks in a soft slab storm snow instability in below tree line terrain on a N aspect around 8,200'.