Observation: Chugach State Park

Location: Falls Creek

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Standard track up Falls Creek. We walked in ski boots for the first ~1/4 mile of the trail before we could find consistent snow to skin on. Expect some Devil’s Club and willow dodging on your descent.

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Whiteout and low visibility for most of the tour, snowing about a cm/hour, no wind with light gusts from the SE

Snow surface

At lower elevations, there was ~2"-5" of new snow. When we got back in the main Falls Creek Bowl there was up to ~1" of fresh snow.

Snowpack

The snowpack was significantly different than what we've been seeing in the majority of the Chugach State Park.

There was ~20 cm of newer snow on a melt-freeze crust. We got ECTP4 on the thin layer of facets underneath the new snow and on the melt-freeze crust. Under that, we found more facets with a melt-freeze crust roughly halfway through the snowpack.

Similar to our snowpit on Peak 4- this snowpit was also looking "wintery" (meaning it was not rounding and had a lot of facet layers).

Photos & Video
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