Stable Dec 11 PWL and solar aspect wet snow on Silver Peak.

We toured into Silver Peak today to have a look at the Dec 11 layer on northerly aspects and to look at surface wet snow on solar aspects between 7,000' and 8,000'. A 2 to 3 inch thick rain curst covers all aspects and elevations in this area and ski crampons were handy on the ascent to the E ridge of the peak. On open slopes this crust was supportable. Under thick forest canopy the overnight refreeze had been much weaker and the crust was breakable.

We put in a snowpit at 7,640' on a N aspect slope that is often the typical ascent route but classically avoided under persistent slab conditions. At this spot the Dec 11 layer was unreactive. While the faceted snow crystals had rounded some, they were still pronounced within the snowpack and still not nearly as strong as the rest of the snowpack above or below it.

Moving over the ridgetop onto solar aspects we transferred from frozen rain crust onto wet snow. The snowpack on E-SE-S aspects in this area ranges from thin to bare ground. On open slopes, we were able to find supportable wet snow conditions if we stayed away from any exposed rocks or vegetation. Descending at 11:30 am we had 1-2 inches of surface wet snow and only very minor roller ball activity triggered from turns with no signs of problematic loose wet instability developing. Near the exposed rocks and vegetation the snowpack was less than 1 foot deep and fully isothermic.