CAIC Observation Report
SnowpackBrian McCall ยท Nov 23, 2010
Weather
Scattered clouds most of the day. High overcast by late afternoon. Cool temps, winds moderate out of the W and SW. Occasional strong and gusty winds.
Snowpack
During the ascent, had a chance to look at the snowpack on both N and SE aspects. Highly variable HS on the SE aspect. At the profile site at 11,500 ft, HS was was 50 cm. General snowpack structure on this aspect at treeline-- lower snowpack MF crust 10-15 cm thick, mid pack facets, upper snowpack of older wind slab and 12cm new snow. North aspect profile site, also at 11,500 showed around 70 cm HS. Recent storm snow and DF's made up the upper 1/3 of the snowpack. 1.0 mm facets and some mixed forms in the lower 2/3. Outside of wind loaded areas, northerly aspects have have mostly fist hard snow. No profiles above treeline, but good visibility showed westerly aspects getting stripped by strong winds at and above treeline. Hard slabs forming on lee aspects, though these were highly variable in depth, location, and size. Gusty winds creating variable loading patterns.