Rattlesnake Zone

This was a late-day walk to see how the snowpack had dealt with the days of heat as we begin to turn the corner towards more stable conditions. I found a supportable, easily travelable snowpack with crusts beginning to form on the surface by late afternoon. In wind-exposed terrain the snow surface was locked up and icy. Ski penetration was 0-4 inches, with boot penetration down to a prominent crust about 12-14inches down (this is the 3/11 surface). This morning's precipitation was on the light side, I found just a dusting of snow at my high point of 6,600'. 

A snowpit dug at 6,000' on an ENE aspect revealed a snowpack that had seen water all the way to the ground, with variable amounts of water pooled at crusts throughout the snowpack. I did not see any signs of instability related to these wet layers, but we are only a day out from the wet slab that Nata observed near Snowbowl on Saturday... Peak meltwater input seemed to be Thursday afternoon, with a similar but slightly lesser amount on Friday afternoon. Today's water input seemed to be mostly in the form of rain, with limited melt occurring at the snow surface. Surficial loose wet issues were much less pronounced than on Thursday/Friday, but predicting how the water further down in the snowpack will behave is something akin to voodoo. 

I dug at 6,000' on an ENE aspect. I found small amounts of water pooled at crusts throughout the snowpack, all the way to the ground. The wettest interval was down 18-20 inches, and presented as a 1/2" interval of slush. Snowpack tests produced no concerning results, but they are a pretty marginal way of assessing stability for wet snow issues. There was no surficial wet snow problem in the time I was out. An icy crust was refreezing on the snow surface before the sun went down, I'd expect to see thick, rugged crusts on the snow surface in the morning that will be slow to break down.