Powderhouse

7-9am. Objective: investigate coverage and snow depth, look for instability in PWL, evaluate status of facets above the reported snow/rain line from recent storms, evaluate skiability of lower angle terrain in current conditions. We toured part of the way up to the east of Powderhouse main area, traveling on N/NE aspects from 7700ft to 8500ft. HS ranged from 20cm to 55cm, increasing with elevation. Small cracks in the new snow appeared in isolated locations next to the skin track. We did a test pit at 8500ft, 24 deg slope, NE facing. We found a right side up, upper snowpack with the top 10cm being new cold snow, sitting atop a layer of wet rounding facets 40-48cm, then a decomposing crust, then another layer of wet rounding facets 48-0cm. ECTN7@40cm and ECTN17@14cm. There was a bit of wind affected snow around but we did not have a cohesive wind slab at our pit location and observed minimal wind deposition and transport on this sheltered tour. Winds were rapidly transporting snow, blowing from the N/NW, in the meadow below during our approach from HW89. The N/NW sides of aspen near the road were plastered. We scraped a few rocks on the careful descent but the lower angle terrain was relatively forgiving. It was cloudy but not actively snowing during the tour.

Quick report