None
Observation:
Location: Pastoral Area
Sunburst Parking lot to Taylor Pass to Pastoral area (3700′)
Observer Comments
Weather
Temps: Single digits (F)
Wind: 10-15mph
Sky: Sunny, no cloud cover
Precip: None
Snow surface
1000' - 1500': 2-4" of snow coverage on crust, Skin track was okay, but had to hike a few sections
1500- 2000': 4" low density snow on hard crust, Skin track is firm.
2000' - 3000': Pockets of 6" faceting snow on firm base, pockets of breakable wind hardened snow
3000-3700': 8-10" of Variable surface conditions. Pockets of loose faceting snow in gullies and depressions, widespread areas of "punchy" wind hardened snow
Snowpack
Today's focus was on surface snow conditions in a variety of terrain. At lower elevations the snow was less affected by the winds from last weekend's storm and 4-6" of faceting snow was sitting on top of a firm crust. In the Alpine, above 2500' the surface snow varied depending on its exposure. Ridges and Pass were scoured or had very with dense Sastrugi. Protected gullies seemed to have the best low density powder snow and everything else had a 2" (1Finger hard) wind skin on top 6-8" of low density snow. We did not find any tender windslabs. Texture seemed to be an okay indicator of surface conditions, but not always. Overall the stability was good and so was the skiing.
View from Taylor Pass looking into an alpine basin North of Pastoral
Sastrugi and hard snow conditions on Taylor Pass
High quality Powder in a protected area below Pastoral
Ski quality varied depending on the texture of the snow, but overall it was good.
There were many places in the alpine where the top 2-3" of surface snow had a breakable wind skin.
Skin track back towards Taylor Pass. Notice the wind affected texture. This is an example of an area with a breakable 2" wind skin as shown in the above picture.