Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Left the Heather Meadows lot at 8:30 to climb Herman and started a skin track up the SE face. It was already quite warm out ~32 deg, no wind, and good vis. Started a skin track up the SE face of Herman, breaking off from those going to the pass. The upper 4" of snow supported our weight and no whumping heard or cracking seen. Dug a pit around 5100'-5200' to search for any layers described in the forecast given that we were seeing wind-blown snow. A compression test failed on the 3rd tap (CTE) on a very thin facet layer (< 0.5 cm) above a 5cm thick crust, 45 cm down in this location. The top 45 cm were right side up with F and 4F density. We got a ECTP 15 on the following extended column test on the same facet layer. On the way back down, we abruptly crossed the apparent freezing level at ~4600' and our tracks released ~1' diameter roller-balls in classic cascades concrete. Back at Bagley Lakes just before noon, and the snow rolled in and vis dropped substantially. Temps dropped as we made our way to swift creek for some hot laps, and didn't have issues with roller balls the rest of the day.