Heavy snowfall. We were parked for about 4 hours and had a least 6" of snow on our truck when we returned. Winds were calm to light up to treeline elevation. Temperatures were in the low to mid 20s F. Cloud cover was full whiteout.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Lynx Creek
Rode up to treeline in Lynx Creek from Bertha Creek. Parking is not plowed at Johnson Pass so we parked at the pullout near Bertha Creek and rode to Lynx along the trail. It was snowing really hard for most of the day so we stayed near the trees for some visibility.
Weather
Snow surface
There was about 6" of very light new snow on the ground with older layers of soft snow underneath, at least up to treeline elevations.
Snowpack
We dug one pit at 1800' near the top of treeline in Lynx Creek. The snowpack was about 4' deep (115 cm) with the Thanksgiving crust buried about 2' deep (60 cm). We did not find a well developed layer of facets above the crust in that location. In our extended column test we did not find any concerning results. The fact that the ice crust exists in the snowpack is cause for concern due to their tendency to developed layers of facets above and below.
On our ride out the storm snow was releasing naturally in tiny storm slabs along the side of the trail.
Snowpack structure near treeline.
Parking lots are not all plowed out yet.
Very flat light for most of the day.
Tiny storm slabs releasing on the side of the trail from the heavy snowfall.
Nice day for riding in the trees!