Active wind loading from northwest winds on the ridgetops.
We rode to Carter and Crescent Lakes today to check out the snowpack in the northern Seward Zone. The trail is in great shape, and we didn’t find any overflow on the lakes. We found plenty of soft snow in the meadows near the lakes. We did not get any concerning test results, but we did see plenty of wind loading from the strong northwest winds on the ridgetops.
Active wind loading from northwest winds on the ridgetops.
It was partly sunny, windy and cold. Temperatures were 10 degrees F at the car and there was strong wind on the ridgetops from the northwest.
There was a foot of soft settled snow on top of a stout crust above 1,000’. The surfaces in the upper elevations looked wind affected with lots of texture.
We dug a pit at 2,000’ on a west aspect where the snowpack was 6’ deep (185cm). There was a massive 8” (20cm) crust about 1’ below the surface. There were 4” of rounding facets above the crust and another 8” of decomposing new snow above that. We did not get any concerning test results (CTN and ECTN11 - 20 cm down on the facets above the crust). The January facets are below the President’s Day crust, they are rounding and starting to stick together. Thick crusts like this one tend to prevent a person from being able to trigger an avalanche on a layer below. We don’t know how high this crust exists so there is a chance a person would be able to trigger an avalanche on the January facets where the crust is thin or non-existent.
View towards Crescent Lake. 2.29.2024
L V Ray Peak and lower slopes. 2.29.2024
Madson Mountain. 2.29.2024
Snowpack on L V Ray at 2,000'. 2.29.2024
Snow Pilot image of snowpack on L V Ray at 2,000'. 2.29.2024
Debris from an avalanche that occurred about a week ago during the storms that ran to the lake. 2.29.2024