Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Traveled up the west side of humpback creek from the new Lake Annette sno park, then headed up the east face of humpback mtn. Lots of exposed brush and boulders. Breakable crust below 3500'. Made it to the ridge at 4900', not the summit. Were going to head down the east face but clouds came in so we opted for the simpler snowshed face (NE face). Skiing was very good above 3500' (6-12" softish snow). There was a 4" thick soft layer above ~4000' which readily separated from the layer below it, not sure if it's from yesterday? That layer often slid out from under my skis on slopes steeper than 30 degrees, which made up travel difficult and produced significant sloughing on the descent. An inversion layer formed, with cloud levels gradually rising to peak level by 1 pm. Peaks got a lot of sun today, but the snow was never sticky. Saw a few roller balls at all elevations, mostly from Sunday I'm guessing since they were covered in an inch or two of snow (from yesterday?). A few new roller balls today, but significantly less wet loose activity today than was evident from the past few days. No evidence of wind slab, no shooting cracks or other signs of propagation.