Observation: NWAC Forecaster

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Weather Summary

A large variety of sky cover from pea soup to broken with blue patches. No trends, as cloud activity shifted often throughout the day. Most areas were calm or very light winds, aside from Ptarmigan Pass where we encountered moderate westerly winds and minimal visibility. Variable snow surface hardnesses with a max foot pen of 20cm.

Snowpack Observations

We found most snow layers were right-side-up and good skiing with lower density snow by the surface on all aspects. A few areas had notable wind-affected, stiffer surfaces, but we didn't travel on these surfaces on steep slopes. The only weakness we found was the new/old 1/21 interface which was buried 10-15cm deep in most areas. Hand shears were easy-moderate on this layer continuously throughout the day, and pit test results were CT10, 12, PC and ECTN10 in the lower Ptarmigan vicinity. No cracking or failures occurred on this layer where we travelled and tested on small, steep, wind-loaded features.

Not enough sun came out today to cause any south-facing wet loose activity where we were. Upon return around 3pm the south face of Mt Herman's snow was slightly heavy. Southerly aspects had about 10cm of snow over a firm crust.