Observations from Waterhouse Peak

View from the top of Waterhouse Peak looking south at numerous steep above and below treeline northerly aspects in the Steven's Peak area held no evidence of recent avalanche activity. Snowpit data collected near the summit of Waterhouse peak at similar aspect and elevation of recent slab avalanches in the Mount Rose region gave indications of a difficult to trigger persistent slab issue on lower density snowpack layers just below the old/new snow interface. Within the about 50 cm of recent storm snow in this area above ~8,500', indications of periodic changes between rain and snow were evident in the attached snowpit dug on an N aspect at 9,440'. Dust on crust conditions of supportable rain crust with 2 to 10 cm of recent storm snow poorly bonded above the crust existed from the valley floor at ~7,700' up to the summit at ~9,500'.

Air temps reached above freezing and 0.5 to 1 cm of surface wet snow was noted on micro S aspects with minor amounts of snow melt off of trees. No signs of wet snow instability observed on Waterhouse Peak or on peaks visible from Hwy 89 while driving from Luther Pass to Truckee from 2:15 to 3:45 pm.