Weather
- Air Temp
- -.5
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Rain Elevation
- 7600
Warm and wet! Near the summit of Paulina Peak (7984 ft.) there was at least some snow mixed in with the rain. The wind was mostly Light from what felt like the southwest. Definitely felt much wetter in general below 7000 ft. Very low visibility made observations difficult.
Snowpack
The surface snow was wet at all elevations. We poked around in north and east facing start zones (where an avalanche would initiate) near the summit. The snow was quite deep in these spots (230 cm - 245 cm.) which made digging down to investigate the basal facets impractical. These spots were likely abnormally deep because they were previously wind loaded (the wind blew snow onto these slopes). Probing did reveal weak layers deep in the snowpack. Snowpack tests in the upper 4 ft. or so did not reveal any significant weak layers in the upper snowpack.
On steep slopes below treeline we were starting to see roller balls (pinwheels), and I would have expected to see Wet Loose debris on the steepest slopes.