Will winter ever arrive? We are not short on precipitation, just cold temperatures. Another very warm and windy storm blew through on Thursday. The rain/snow line was around 3,000′ in most areas which saturated the snowpack and removed much of the snow below 1,500′. Above 3,000′, the warm temperatures and wet snow melted the surface up to ridgetops and a supportable crust exists at these higher zones. At the mid elevations the crust was unsupportable and our skis were punching through to wet soft snow easily yesterday. Overnight, with mostly clear skies, the crust at these mid elevations is likely to be a bit more supportable and hard.
On the bright side, it was snowing at the very high elevations in the Girdwood Valley – this will be the one possible exception to the LOW danger for today. At elevations above 4,000′ a possible 5-12″ of storm snow may be found. How well this has bonded to the old surface is uncertain. We do know there was surface hoar prior to Thursday’s storm – whether it was destroyed by the high winds or buried intact is the question. If you are headed to these high elevation slopes, assessing the recent storm snow, how it is adhering and looking for buried surface hoar underneath will be key.
On another bright side, in the Alpine zone (above 2,500′) our old and buried weak layers, which were very stubborn and difficult to trigger prior, are even more difficult to trigger as the slab is capped with a stout crust in many places. An avalanche failing in these old persistent weak layers is unlikely.
Photo below: A 1-2″ crust caps the snowpack up to 3,500′ on the Magnum Ridge.
Lower elevations at the Pass look about like this (look at your own risk!)
Archives 
The Bottom Line
