Mt. Rose Observations

Around 4'' of new snow in this location by midday.  This storm snow has buried the surface hoar that was present yesterday, this buried surface hoar was found today below treeline, at treeline, on exposed starting zones, and up to 9900' in open terrain-now all buried under 4'' of new snow.  The grain size varied by location but most was 5mm+ and widespread on all aspects and elevations.  Hand pits and CT's all showed an easy shear on the surface hoar layer.  The new snow was unconsolidated coming in cold and with light winds which did a very good job of preserving the buried surface hoar but as of midday not forming a cohesive slab.  Ski kicks, ski cuts all produced sluffs that ran efficiently downslope but had no propagation.  By mid afternoon the snowfall intensity began to increase and the temps were slightly warming.  The buried surface hoar is now protected under 4-6'' of snow and waiting for a cohesive slab to form on top.  As the weekend storm system comes in with more precip, wind and warming temps this layer will be a major concern moving forward.

Still some lingering instabilities within the 12-14/15 storm snow showing clean Q1 shears on the graupel layer with moderate CT force.  No signs of propagation on this layer.  The 12/14 rain layer was observed up to 9400' showing no signs of weakness, facet growth or failures with stability tests.

Photo:  Sluff from a ski kick on a convex roll that ran down to the flats sliding on the buried surface hoar layer.  9600' on north aspect.