Round Mountain early season

Quick report

Weather

cloudy, sunny

Ride Type

convexSlopes, mellowSlopes, openTrees, steepSlopes

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

deepPowder

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSnow

Headed out to see what the early season conditions were looking like around Diamondhead and ended up having an incredible day. Dug a pit just past Round Mtn, didn't see anything unexpected or alarming, and proceeded to shred 30cm of fresh early-season pow. Good snow cover all the way to the parking area, but the road is still basically clear. I did see a ranger truck, so expect chain checks.

Weather

Avg Temp

0

Sky Condition

brokenClouds

Temperature Trend

rising

Precipitation Type

none

Snowpack

Depth

120

Obs Type

point

Site Aspect

N

Test Fracture

resistant

Site Elevation

1600

Ski Penetration

9

Foot Penetration

30

Test Failure Depth

30

Site Elevation Band

tln

Surface Conditions

newSnow

Test Failure Layer Crystal Types

crust

Dug a pit off Paul's Ridge just past Round Mountain on a northern aspect. Snowpack was sitting at about 120cm depth. New storm snow from the last couple of weather fronts was sitting on a 15cm thick crust layer about 60cm down. Below that the snow was well-bonded and resistant to shearing. I got a mild compression failure at 3 shoulder taps 30cm deep.