Observation: Avalanche Professional

Advanced Information

Weather Summary

Snowpack Observations

Toured up to the top of Panorama Point and back down. Dug a pit on bottom skiers right of Pan face, see photo for pit profile and test results. The top meter of snow conists of alternating hard melt-freeze crusts and softer snow. The most noticeable MFcr is just below the recent soft storm snow, 15cm thick and pencil hard, and supportable while skiing and even without skis on. This crust provided a rough slide surface for the storm snow above, as we observed some small slabs shift while skiing when we cut under a previous ski track.

There was a notable change in the snowpack/surface characteristic somewhere around 6000' give or take, from wetter and/or crunchier snow below, and a drier snowpack above, perhaps the rain/snow line from the recent storm. Starting from the bottom of Pan Pt up, the surface snow was drier, and mild wind transport was occurring and there was evidence of significant past snow transport. Thin wind slabs, <15 cm, and hollow snow was found along the ridges of Pan Pt. Other skiers that had been higher up on the Muir Snowfield said the snow was chalky and wind scoured, with small breakable chunks occasionally. Looking out farther, there was wind-snow deposition and some cornice formation where there had not been much prior to the recent storm.