Carson Pass Observations

A beautiful day on Carson Pass but soft snow was a little tough to find. Upon my late morning arrival the sun was hiding behind thin clouds but large patches of blue sky were present for much of my tour. The sun was strong enough to provide softening to south facing slopes but little to none to slopes that were not facing due south. I was impressed with the large wind created snow features along the ridge both north and south of Elephant's Back. Looking up towards Round Top and the cirque to the immediate east of it, there are several old crowns and avalanche debris piles. Light winds on ridges kept the snow cold and firm. If I stopped moving along a ridge I needed to add a layer. Snow surface conditions were highly variable, switching between chalky to icey with a few spots of softer. No instabilities were observed on my tour. 

Photo 1: Round Top with an interesting old avalanche visible in the center of the photo

Photo 2: Looking up at variable snow conditions. 

Photo 3: Large wind features along the ridge. This photo fails to capture how big these forms were. 

Photo 4: Thin snow conditions on the south facing portion of the Elephant's Graveyard zone.

Photo 5: North facing slopes in Elephant's Graveyard holding much better snow coverage