Increasing cloud cover through the day. Winds were howling across ridgetops in the afternoon, with a lot of snow blowing off ridgetops in the surrounding alpine.
Out for a quick lap this afternoon. I was surprised how much shallower the snowpack is here compared to Turnagain. It’s clear the 11/29-30 storm skimped this area, with only 6-10″ snow on top of the Thanksgiving crust. This will be an important piece to keep in mind once that layer gets buried deeper.
Increasing cloud cover through the day. Winds were howling across ridgetops in the afternoon, with a lot of snow blowing off ridgetops in the surrounding alpine.
6-10" soft snow on a firm crust, with some variety from the winds over the past few days.
I only dug one pit at 2000', so it's hard to say how representative it is of the broader Crow Creek area. That said, this pit was much shallower than what we've been seeing at Turnagain- with only about 2' snow on the ground. The Thanksgiving crust was buried about 6" below the surface, and there was a thin layer of facets on top of the crust. For areas that are getting wind loaded, or once we get more snow on top of what's already on the ground, this could be a potentially scary snowpack.
Looking east at blowing snow in the high ridges around upper Winner Creek and the back of Peterson Creek. 12.07.2023
View to the south of a ton of snow blowing off Pyramid. 12.07.2023
Alyeska looking dramatic during a break in the clouds. 12.07.2023
Snowpack notes from a snowpit at 2000' on a south aspect. 12.07.2023
Detailed snowpit info. 12.07.2023