Carson Pass South

Thanks to the inversion, temperatures were impressively warm at the Carson Pass Sno-Park around 10am this morning. I spent most of my tour exploring the near tree line north facing slopes below the Frog Lake cliffs. These zones are a bit of a facet factory right now due to the shallow snow pack and higher elevation, shady and cold slopes. While near ridgeline terrain has some firm snow from previous wind events, this lower terrain held soft weak snow. I was easily able to probe to the ground in many locations with my pole handle. Coverage was just barely adequate for cautious travelling on skis but numerous rocks and stumps were present. 

My pit showed top to bottom weak snow but the softest was the top 15 cms of near surface facets. I found the vague remnants of a crust near the ground but even it had mostly faceted. 

Photo 1: Impressively weak snow. Fist hard near surface facets at the top.

Photo 2: Boot penetration near my pit location was 40 cms (or about 75% of the total snowpack).

Photo 3: Weak snow but no slab present.

Photo 4: An upside down pole was easy to probe to the ground in most of the shady north facing near tree terrain I explored.

Photo 5: Firm previously scoured snow was found on ridges. 

Photo 6: Noticed this sign which I don't usually see in the winter b/c it gets buried.

Photo 7: Looking across Hwy 88 at the south facing slopes of Red Lake Peak.