Observation: Summit

Route:
Tenderfoot campground to 3200′

Weather:
Broken skies, calm to light winds from the south, no precipitation, and temperatures in the upper 20’s

Obvious Signs:
Recent Avalanches: None
Collapsing: None
Shooting Cracks: One very small section of wind effected snow had 1-2′ shooting cracks on
tenderfoot ridge.

Snow Surface:
1000-2000′: 2-4″ of loose snow over very firm ice crust, total snow depth 5-10″
2000-2500′: 3-6″ of loose snow over very firm ice crust, total snow depth 15-20″
2500-3200′: 4-10″ of loose snow over very firm ice crust. Variable total snow depth from 2-5′
depending on wind loading patterns. Wind loaded areas showed low strength in snow pit tests,
however we did not find them to have enough energy to propagate.

Below the surface:
Below 2500′ snowpack is very strong, mostly consisting of layers of melt freeze forms and ice crusts.
Above 2500′ snowpack is consistently strong with ice crusts up to 10″ thick depending on
snowpack depth.

The only layer of concern was limited to surface wind slabs (2-4″ thick). We could not find any of these
large or thick enough to react. Possibly at the very high elevations this would be an issue.

Additionally, we investigated the loose surface snow to see how much faceting is occurring
(potential future weak layer).