Waterhouse Peak Observations

Snow showers were ongoing during our late morning arrival today on Luther Pass. We found about 5 inches of new snow in wind protected areas in the elevations we traveled between 7,700' and 9,400'. Snow showers ended shortly after 11 am.

NE winds were strong. Blowing and drifting snow were present on Grass Lake. Moving onto the treed N slopes of Waterhouse Peak we encountered substantial wind protection and undisturbed new snow. As we neared the summit ridge and transitioned from below treeline to near treeline terrain blowing snow was plentiful with intense drifting rates. Plenty of recent storm snow remained available for wind transport at treeline on the windward side of the ridgetop at noon. Snow was depositing as new drifts and wind slabs on S aspect terrain in this area.

Moving back into wind protected below treeline terrain on a N aspect at 9,400' (noted lat/long) we dug a testpit to look at the layers in the top 3 feet of the snowpack. We noted several hardness changes and weaker layers of recent storm snow plate crystals, none of which produced propagating, SP, SC results in the ECT and CT. All results were ECTN, CT RP, or CT BRK.

Skies remained cloudy during our tour with only short lived, occasional sun breaks that were becoming more frequent around our 1 pm departure.