Kirkwood OB: Melissa Coray, Caples Lake, Red Cliffs

We went out of bounds at Kirkwood looking for signs of previous wind activity by Melissa Coray Peak. We found plenty of such signs up there. We then went over to lower elevations on the NE/SE slopes facing Caples Lake. Skiing down low angle terrain there was very challenging with the snow turning to mush. We then ascended back up to near Red Cliffs and dug a pit along the way on a NE aspect at 8135 ft. We found deep snow there of 197 cm and a persistent weak layer 122 cm down from the surface. We had a Deep Tap Test fail with a sudden collapse on the 30th tap.

At higher elevations from Chair #4 to Melissa Coray Peak, above 9000 feet in open areas, there was very hard, windblown snow, sastrugi, and cornices on ridges from previous SW winds. At lower elevations, between 7800 and 8300, not much evidence of winds, especially in gladed areas. We did dig a pit below treeline at 8135 ft on a NE aspect and found a couple of weak layers with the most concerning 122 cm down from a HS of 197 cm with sugary facets. A Deep Tap Test failed on this layer on the 30th tap. However, these sugary facet layers do seem to be healing.