Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Much like the other observations seen at Crystal Lakes and the Pyramid Creek drainage, et al, my snowshoeing partner and I encountered variable snowpack: on higher, shaded aspects, the snow was either chalky powder or stout wind fetch/slabs. On sun-exposed aspects, the quality was mixed depending on the temperature and exposure. South sun facing areas were generally lower in depth and topped with a stout (4F+/1F) sun crust. Some areas (notably lower ones and ones near the summit) had exposed rock and (in the case of the latter) rime ice. Our snowshoe crampons were sufficient to get up and down, but I wouldn't have attempted it had I not had traction (I would not have felt particularly comfortable with microspikes).
Our snowshoes were cracking unpredictably on descent due to pockets of wind fetch (of variable depth and firmness), sun crust over wind fetch, and sun crust over hard base, etc, which made travel a bit tedious. Overall, today's snowshoeing conditions were great, but given the isolated breaking of the top layer (sun crust, soft storm/wind slab) under my snowshoes, I would have been conservative, depending on what slope I rode if I had been skiing or snowboarding (we purposely avoided deep wind drifts wherever possible). Some of the slabs in the morning resulted in planar breaks.
Areas BTL showed small near surface facets (1mm) in shaded areas; it'll be interesting to see how this layer integrates into the rest of the snowpack -- in particular after it gets buried under this weekend's projected snowstorm in the Cascades.
Temperature was 19°F at ~8:20 (when we left), sans windchill; 37°F at ~16:45 (when we got back to the car).
Weather was bluebird (CLR) with visibility from Baker and the MLH, to Adams and Goat Rocks, to the west Palouse, to the eastern ends of the Olympics. The wind was a lot calmer than forecast: 0mph (C) with 5-15 mph (L) gusts, not 10+mph (L) sustained and 15+mph (M or S) gusts.
Average snowshoe pen was 4"-6" in softer wind fetch. In harder wind fetch and supportive sun crust, it was closer to <1/4".