Surface Hoar on Silver Peak

Calm winds and sunny weather today provided a welcome change from the cool E and NE winds yesterday. As we moved around on Silver Peak today, we could see some evidence of E wind scouring along the ridges and on the exposed, upper-elevation E-NE facing slopes. These winds had exposed more rocks and made the snow surface more variable. 

In more sheltered areas near and below treeline, the snow remained cold and soft on the northerly aspects. Large featherly crystals of surface hoar had formed on the snow surface in these sheltered areas. About 2 to 4 inches of new snow existed on top of a very thin crust. Just below this crust we found a thin layer of buried surface hoar. Below that the snowpack gets more consolidated.

Numerous rocks, stumps, logs and other obstacles remain on the surface or hidden below a few inches of soft snow. We moved cautiously and managed to avoid hitting anything consequential.