Hard and soft wind slabs on Mt. Judah

We went to Mt. Judah looking for the current hard wind slab avalanche problem in near treeline terrain on N and NE aspects. Higher up on the peak at treeline we found the expected hard slab over buried near surface facets (see video). ECTN and CTH SP scores were obtained in a test pit at this location (N aspect, at treeline, 8,050') which is also the noted lat/long. The slab was 1F hard and the weak layer was 4F hard at this location. This hard slab setup was not as profound as what has been observed in recent days in the Carson Pass area.

We encountered much softer than anticipated wind slabs (4F hard) in the lower wind loaded portions of the peak (Wildflower Ridge and Halfpipe Gully). Ski cuts on a few test slopes revealed no signs of instability for these softer wind slabs.

Winds were increasing with light to moderate amounts of blowing snow noted over the cornice on Wildflower Ridge and during gusts at top of Donner Pass at road level.