Observations from Hidden Peak

We went to Hidden Peak to get some data on the buried surface hoar and hopefully see if we could see any evidence of large avalanche activity in the Desolation Wilderness.

We could feel the rain crust under about 6 to 8 inches of new snow when we left the parking lot. As we gained elevation the new snow got deeper. By the time we reached 8500 ft, 12 to 14 inches of new snow existed on top of the rain crust. As we skinned up, we got off the skin track to feel for signs of instabilities and did not find any in handpits or other observations. We knew that a persistent weak layer might still lurk 4+ ft below the surface. We kept ourselves on slopes less steep than 30 degrees. We also stopped to dig a full snowpit in an area where I had previously seen surface hoar and old near surface facets. We found the remnants of both layers. The surface hoar (photo 3) was 4 ft down and old facets were more than 5 ft down. Snowpit observations and tests targetting these old layers did not show any signs of lingering instability (see pit).

Near the summit of Hidden, we found widespread signs of wind transport including small cornices, wind-loaded slopes, and wind created surface textures (photo 1). Ski kicks on small wind-loaded test slopes only triggered small shooting cracks that only propagated about 2- 3 ft from my skis and broke about 12 inches deep (photo 2). The small cornices were very easy to break with light ski kicks. Looking west from the summit we could not see any of the larger terrain in Desolation due to clouds and fog, so we were not able to accomplish our second goal to look for evidence of large avalanches.

We opted to avoid the steeper wind loaded slopes and descend on more sheltered terrain where we found soft consistent snow.