Big Horns

We found the 4 to 10 inches of fresh snow from the recent storm to be light and undisturbed on this east-facing slope. The lower third of the slope has significantly less snow with sagebrush poking through. We dug one pit at 8,891 feet at the edge of an opening in the trees with a total depth of 31 inches (80 cm). The fresh snow sits on a reactive layer of near-surface facets; however, in this area, there wasn't a slab. The snowpack sits on 4 inches (12 cm) of basel facets that did propagate with harder taps (28).

Recent snow has fallen on two distinct melt crust from Dec 24-25th and Dec 19th warming events. These crusts are supportable for both boots and skis. Wind events post-Christmas (Dec 26th and 27th) have scoured ridgelines and open area down to dirt and these MF crusts. More sheltered areas hold a generally stable snowpack with an average 65 cm (26 inches) depth.