CAIC Observation Report

Snowpack

We skied the backcountry both directions from Wolf Creek Pass this past weekend and found a uniformly thin snow pack for this time off year--100 cm thick in most northerly aspects in the trees and more open areas as well. There was 4-5 inches of surface hore on top of a pretty hard 18-24 inch slab before in degenerated into sugar at the bottom. Sure, pretty typical for an "early San Juan snowpack," but lots of hidden obstacles just below the surface add extra danger to the backcountry traveler this season. And with the long range forcast not so favorable we expect that the sugar at the bottom will only degenerate further. Saw lots of frosted flakes on the north side of Alberta's Cousin that were real pretty