Observations from Ebbetts Pass

Windy day along ridges, with poor snow quality varying between hard wind slab and firm, exposed Dec 12th rain crust. Near and below treeline on shaded slopes, snow surface remained unconsolidated over a supportable base. Pine needles on the surface and wind effected surfaces were common today (pic 1). Near and below treeline on sunny slopes, a thin crust was observed at the surface but still provided good riding.

I dug several quick pits and where snow would have been shallow above the Dec 12th crust before additional accumulation, I found small facets just above the crust. This layer varied from very thin, to 15cm thick. Where snow would have been deeper above the Dec 12th crust before additional accumulation, facets were observed about halfway between the crust and the current snow surface, and similarly varied in thickness. Hand hardness of facets was consistently 4 Finger.

4x ECTs throughout our travels produced 1 ECTP and 3 ECTNs. The ECTP (pic 2) was where recent wind slab was 1 Finger hard above facets, but the slab itself was highly variable in thickness, and an adjacent ECT with thinner slab did not propagate. In pic 2, note how much small debris from trees blew on top of the exposed weak layer in the brief time between performing the test and taking the picture. The riding conditions were not appealing where 1 Finger hard wind slab was present, and excellent in terrain sheltered from the wind, so exposing ourselves to wind slab today wasn't much of a temptation.

Pic 3: Signs of settlement in the trees. Wind sheltered terrain around 8500ft still had an average HS of 160cm. Wind loaded terrain had 200cm+.