Besides the sort lived clouds that rolled in - It was a beautiful blue bird day! Temps in the 20's. Strong winds out of the East with lots of flagging observed on peaks
Observation: Hatcher Pass
Location: Near Back Door Couloir- up Goldmint trail
Clear blue bird day with temps in the teens at Gold Mint lot. Clouds rolled in around noon and created white out conditions that lifted at about 2pm. Winds were calm for majority our tour along Mint Valley, but were gusting hard when we rounded the corner up into the Coinslot drainage – east facing. Flagging was observed on many of the Peaks around us. I’m not sure the name of the peak we summited, but we dug a pit and got a ECTP16 30cm down on a crust layer . See description and photos bellow
Weather
Snow surface
Crusty down low near the parking lot but quickly improved as we pushed back the valley. Snow quality was surprisingly soft and very fun! - even tho there was many point releases visible from the warm temps the days before.
Snowpack
Dug a pit at 4050', WSW aspect, slope 40*, snow depth 170cm - pit was dug 10ft bellow ridge line. Not sure of the peak names in this valley, so see map way point for location.
Results were CT13 and ECTP16 - both with noticeable sudden collapses 30cm down. Both CT and ECT columns did not slide off the block until lightly pride with a shovel - then both slide off smooth. Failure occurred on a pencil thick crust layer that was difficult to pick up with out braking. Continued hand taps till 30 with no more results. See pics bellow
ECT after 30 taps
Ice layer
What I managed to pick up without braking
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