Observations from Powderhouse Peak

Firm climbing conditions on Powderhouse this morning. Surface refreeze was solid on open slopes and on north facing treed slopes during morning hours. By 2pm only top few cms of snow had softened on north facing slopes. Snow and graupel started to fall around 2pm. Height of snow at 8600 feet on north facing slope was 160 cms.

Snow pits at 9000 feet did not reveal any signs of instability. 

Photo 1: Still adequate snow coverage for travel at lower elevations but dry patches are growing. Plenty of snow coverage for skiing at the base but rocks and dirt patches are expanding. 

Photo 2: Firm surface snow conditions around 9000 feet on north facing slopes at 11:30am. Pits on north facing slope at 9000 feet showed a snow height of 225cms. Top 1cm at surface was 4 fingers hard. Below that were 10 cms of knife hard snow, followed by another 10 cms of 1 finger hard snow. Below the 1 finger hard snow was about 6 cms of wet 4 finger hard snow. Multiple Compression Tests failed to yield any results on this layer, and a couple non-standard kicks failed to yield results as well.