Round Top

We toured out to the base of round top to look at the snowpack out there. The trail was a mix of snow and dirt until 8600'.  Surface snow along the way was primarily supportable with occasional areas of softer wet snow and punchy crusts. Surface snow in areas was smooth and dangerous to travel on, especially on steeper slopes were slide for life conditions could exist. As we climbed I frequently probed around and there was anywhere from 30 to 75cm of snow.  We hiked up just passed Winnemucca lake to about 9100'. There I dug a pit and found layers of old rain crusts and weak faceting snow. The rain crusts within the snowpack seem to be losing strength and deteriorating, adding to the facets around them. All afternoon the weather was beautiful with clear blue skies and the occasional light breeze and above freezing temperatures. No signs of instability observed otherwise.