Observation: Summit

Very cold night at -1F. Clear skies in the morning with no wind, but the mountains all around showed signs of wind scouring — Colorado, Fresno ridge, & Manitoba.

The snow height seemed consistent with a week ago down low, but there were some fresh layers up higher, so perhaps wind loaded.

I dug a pit at 2688 near the nose of the ridge, on a small 30 degree roller at the same aspect as the main slope.

85cm snow height. A 30x30cm shovel shear test broke 18cm down, the second noticeable layer. An extended column test partially propagated at the same layer on the 15th hit. After that, nothing shifted to ground level.

The snow was noticeably a bit drier than last week, with some layer differentials, but nothing very significant to me.