Observations from Andesite Peak

We toured Andesite Peak this morning. Skies were overcast most of the time with occasional periods of filtered sunshine penetrating through areas of thinner cloud cover. Above treeline on solar aspects, the snow surface had not entered melt phase at noon due to cloud cover and convective cooling of the snow surface by moderate speed SW winds. Only in open below treeline terrain with very good wind protection did we encounter any areas of snow surface melt. Wet snow was present in these areas but not enough to allow for more than a very minor surface sluff.

We dug a snowpit on a NE aspect around 7,900' to have a look for any signs of faceting at the Feb 19 rain crust. In our pit, this crust was located 50 cm (20 inches) below the snow surface. This crust was very well bonded to the layers both above and below it. The CT did not produce any failures at this rain crust.

Ridgetop winds were moderate speed from the SW. We did not see any areas of drifting snow. Windward aspects were capped by a surface melt-freeze crust that had formed over the past 24 hours. This crust was about 2 cm (1 inch) thick and breakable to travel on skis. The snow immediately below this crust was recent storm snow, creating a transitional wet snow over unconsolidated dry snow type setup if the surface crust were to melt.