Quick report
I wanted to reset my mental map of the snowpack after this warm atmospheric river event brought substantial rain to the region. Traveling up the road to Tronson Meadows, I did not take my skins off or leave the road due to the low snow cover, and I had to carry my skis down a few of the steeper pitches. The snowpack is fully saturated, with many areas of just bare ground.
There were some very small, wet, loose slides from the road bank.Weather
- Air Temp
- Above Freezing
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- Rain went well past where I could see (5800ft)
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Luckily, most of the rain fell overnight, and I only experienced overcast skies with light rain during my tour. The wind was surprisingly warm, mostly in the moderate range with stronger gusts.
Snowpack
We lost a lot of snow since the December 1-3 storm. Many slopes, particularly those under the tree canopy, are back to bare ground. At the trailhead (3900ft), there were just a few inches of snow, increasing to around 8-9" at 5000ft. The snow left on the ground was saturated, and my boot steps quickly turned into puddles. The weak, faceted snow near the ground is also saturated.
The ski pen was just around 1-2" but the boot pen was essentially to the ground in most places.