CAIC Observation Report

Snowpack

Email From: John Keffler Email Address: john.w.keffler@gmail.com Contact Number: 303-971-3766 On Saturday, myself and a friend headed up to see what the snow pack was above Mines 1 and 2 at Berthoud pass looked like. We dug a pit just above the hanging snow field that builds up above Mines 1 and 2. We were above Mines 2 but off to the east side. What we found (working from the top down) was a 3 inch finger hard layer, then about 6 inches of softer snow that you could remove easily with your hand then a very hard 5 inch slab (pencil hard). The bottom layer was about 8 inches of sugar snow. Seeing this we headed over to the Shoulder and skied the trees, not to mention that Mine 1 and 2 are not filled in yet. Granted that this was up above the hanging snow field and that this area is really exposed and gets a lot of wind, it was not good news for that area. It was just a chance for us to keep building our experience and trying to see what the snow is doing this year so far. Hope this helps. I have a few picture I could send you if you like too. Thanks Guys, -John=