Significant Snowpack Consolidation on Lola

We decided to check-in on a previous observation location (Ob from 11/21) to see how the snowpack is evolving. On the skin up to our previous pit location, we found shallow snow with lots of stumps and rocks poking out of it below 7400 ft. Above that elevation, the snowpack depth increased just enough to improve coverage. At all elevations, the snowpack has settled and consolidated quite a bit. We probed snow depths and compared them to what we saw in this same area last week. The snow heights have decreased by about 30% on average in this area. Despite this loss of height, the snowpack remained supportable and we could avoid the obstacles by being observant and traveling carefully.  

Obvious settlement and consolidation had occurred at our pit location from last week as well. Snow depth went from ~70cm to ~50cm. Snowpit data indicated that the cold clear nights are allowing the snow on the ground to facet (weaken) at all depths. Continued monitoring will show if this trend continues or if it swings back towards a rounding (strengthening) trend. None of our snowpit tests or other general observations showed any signs of instability. 

As for snow surface conditions, we found a mix of warm, wet, sticky snow on sunny E aspects, some soft cold surface snow on sheltered N and NE aspects, and wind affected snow on exposed N-NE-E aspects.