Quick report
Our goals for today were to cover all elevation bands in Rock Creek, observe the overnight freeze, and monitor warming throughout the day. We also did our best to push some wet snow down solar slopes in the middle of the day.
The Rock Creek road is closed at the East Fork, and the road beyond is still completely snow-covered.
We found that despite marginal overnight temperatures, the clear skies allowed for a solid freeze at all elevations. Surface warming followed a predictable spring progression around the compass. We encountered mostly supportable travel, with occasional bottomless wallows around rocks and in the trees.
We skied from 12000 feet at 1:30 pm and found mostly supportable skiing on east aspects. When the slope tipped south, we found an occasional deep, wet turn.
The moraines above the Lower Rock Creek road will be void of snow soon.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 30 - 50
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- None
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Beautiful day. Adequate radiational freeze overnight. Skies were mostly sunny, winds were light from the southwest, and temperatures were well above freezing.
Snowpack
- Slopes with snow between 9k and 10k were all predictable melf-freeze to the ground.
- Above 10k: NE held shallow surface MF layer with transitional snow below. We even found dry, faceted grains in isolated places, but they were inconsistent across the landscape.
E held mostly MF grains that softened predictably from the top down.
SE held MF snow that was shallow and overcooked by midday.
- We observed no recent avalanches. Our attempts to push snow downhill on steep, warm, east-facing slopes resulted in localized wet loose instabilities, but did not entrain snow or continue more than 50 feet down slope.
- Coverge in lower Rock Creek is becoming desperate, while upper Rock Creek looks healthy, all things considered.