Fresno

We headed up Fresno to check out the snow before the approaching storm.  We skinned on the next crop of large surface hoar from the highway to 2300'.  This could be a new problem when it gets buried. The snow depth measured from 1.5 to 2.5ft (50 to 80cm) which is thinner than on the Tenderfoot side. We did not see any recent avalanches except for newer glide avalanches and we did not experiance obvious signs of instability. The storm did not arrive while we were out. It was warm with the truck measuring above freezing temps. We rode loud powder on the way down. Coverage is still a little on the thin side. 

The snowpack measured from 1.5 to 2.5ft (50 to 80cm) on our trek to 2,300’. A thin crust about 4” deep followed us and was almost gone when we topped out. We dug two pits at 2,000’ and 2,300’. In both we found 2 buried surface hoar layers at 22 and 44 cm deep. The upper layer produced concerning results in snowpit tests (ECTP26) in our 2,000’ pit. We also found weak snow under a crust just below the deeper layer of surface hoar. The snow conditions did not seem scary but triggering an avalanche on these layers may become easier with more snow on top of them such as from the approaching storm or in wind loaded spots. These layers are also notorious for avalanching on a slope that produced safe results in snow tests. The surface had large surface hoar feathers for our entire trip.