above sledding area 3400' 10:00am 9 degrees Fahrenheit, calm winds, no precipitation, overcast.
Observation: Hatcher Pass
Location: Above sledding hill
Toured below Microdot and Ray Wallace chutes to see what was going on with the snowpack before the next bit of snow falls. The coverage was quite thin with lots of rocks hiding underneath a small amount of snow.
Weather
Snow surface
The snow surface was highly variable today with pockets of stiff wind slab, exposed melt freeze crust, and low density faceted snow. In some sheltered areas surface hoar remained undisturbed by Monday's winds.
Snowpack
Overall the snowpack has poor structure, poor strength, and poor propagation in areas that we conducted tests. Weak faceted snow was in found in both pits but lacked a cohesive slab on top which might explain lack of propagation in ECT.
3400' above sledding hill
NW 28 degree slope
HS 32cm
CT13 @ ground on depth hoar/basal facets
ECTN 9 @ 21cm above Melt freeze crust
3700'
S 10 degree slope
CT14 SC @ ground on depth hoar/basal facets
Pit from today