Variable Snow and Old Cracks in Deep Creek

With cooler temperatures and more E and NE wind forecasted for today, we decided to investigate how the surface layers are changing in the Deep Creek drainage. We had been into the N-facing slopes earlier this month and found soft snow on top of a thin crust on top of another thin layer of soft snow. These layers were all within 4 to 6 inches of the surface. Today we found that this stratigraphy still exists and that the soft snow has only gotten slightly weaker (slightly more faceted). The variety of crusts also still exists. They have not eroded. In more thickly treed areas the snow surface was icy and covered in debris from the trees. Open slopes sheltered from the winds held the most and continuous stretches of soft surface snow. We dug a pit on a N-facing slope that had old cracks in it. The cracks likely occurred around Jan 3-4. We did not find any signs of instability in the snowpack today. The road that people use to skin in and ski out of Deep Creek has seen lots of traffic and is quite icy.