Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Beautiful, mostly sunny day with no wind. Skiing was hamstrung by a stiff, but breakable crust on all aspects. My best guess is that it is a rain crust as it was on all aspects whether sun exposed or not, from 5,300' to 6,800'. It made an ok touring surface as there was about a 1/2" of new snow adhering to its surface. It made for a tricky decent. Snow pack summary: I chose a sheltered East facing spot that is likely a 'catch' for blowing snow, at about 6,800'. Total Snow pack 81". Results: 3mm crust with a dusting of snow, followed by 2" of soft snow and a 2mm crust. The next major crust follows about 10" of 4F to 1F snow. Then about 3" of facets to another crust. The next 2 major crusts were at 23" and 32" deep. These 2 crusts were separated with faceting crystals. Shovel shear test showed a easy clean shear at about 13" deep. This was an old surface layer as there was plenty of small tree debris on it. The next shear popped at 32" deep, but took some effort. These slid on buried facets and what looks like old graupel. CT1@ 4" (Note the 1st 2 crusts are in this 4"), CT21 @13", CT 24@23" I guess this is the snow pack you get when the weather changes from snow to rain and back again. Add a couple of weeks of wide fluctuations in temperatures with no significant moisture penetrating the pack and you get a layer cake with more questions than answers.