Unstable snowpack on Pickett Peak.

We toured the N side of Pickett Peak today, looking at some of the weakest known snowpack structure within the forecast area. Similar to the rest of the Carson Pass area, especially well east of the Sierra Crest the snowpack here has remained shallow and weak while snowpack strength and depth have improved in many other portions of the forecast area.

We started with a shallow but supportable 30-40 cm (1 to 1.3 ft) snowpack off of Hwy 88 at 7,150'. The snowpack became deeper above 8,000' but never exceeded about 75 cm (2.5 ft) in wind protected locations up to our highpoint of travel between the two summits at 8,850'. Surface rain crust was 2-3 cm (1 inch) thick and breakable below 7,500'. This rain crust thinned around 7,700' to 7,800' and faded out by 8,000'. Above 8,000' up to 7 cm (3 inches) of recent new snow was present above the rain crust. In all areas weak faceted snow  (Dec 11 PWL) in the lower portion of the snowpack was obvious with pole probing. Stepping off of equipment resulted in deep boot penetration through nearly the entire snowpack.

Along our ascent route at 8,200' we moved into an open area with around a 60 cm (2 foot) snowpack and triggered two large collapses with loud whumpfs and a noticeable vertical drop of the snowpack.

Assessing a near treeline N aspect slope just off the ridgetop between the two summits gave us a chance to look more closely at what had already clearly presented as a weak snowpack. Snowpit tests produced repeatable propagating failures on the Dec 11 PWL of faceted snow. After finishing with the snowpit, repeated jumping up and down on skis collapsed a large portion of the slope. We moved over to the steeper adjacent portion of the slope and saw long shooting cracks that had not been there on our arrival. It is not clear exactly when we triggered these cracks or if they were connected to lower angle portion of the slope we intentionally collapsed. Digging out a section of the crack revealed that the fracture went deep down through wind pillows to the Dec 11 PWL.

We descended the peak utilizing the many sub 30 degree angle slopes available.