Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Low snow coverage through the valley approach - summer trail is mostly snow covered but bare in enough sections that we booted until ~4100' before switching to skins. There was some fairly substantial hoarfrost development along the valley up until around 3900'. Above 4500' snow in sunny areas was getting thick and glopping and we observed signs of smaller natural wet loose slides that looked a couple days old - we did not see any activity Saturday.

At Hannegan pass we began to see signs of wind effect on aspects with easterly exposure; no substantial cracking was observed. Snow depth at 5200' was probed at 80-90cm. The ridge between Hannegan Pass and point 5930 harbored some fluffy, cold, and stable snow on the north westerly aspect but as soon as we got above the trees around 5500' and had easterly exposure we were back to observing wind affected snow with a notable crust on top in places and icy patches in others; we opted to turn around here.