Thin snow cover, previous wind scouring, and minor warming on Tamarack Peak.

Today I walked Tamarack Peak, following the Far East Ridge to the summit, down the traditional ascent route to the summer trail, and back to the top of the pass. Snow amounts in this area were generally 6 inches in wind protected areas below treeline. The shallow snowpack in this area was right side up, 4F to 1F- in hardness. A mix of new snow crystal forms including 3-4 mm graupel were well bonded through the entire (only 6 inch deep) snowpack.

In wind exposed areas near treeline and above treeline, the shift from SW to NE winds following the last storm had scoured many but not all of the traditional N-NE-E aspect avalanche start zones in this area. Wind scouring down to bare ground was common in simple terrain near the ridgetop. In areas of more complex terrain, there was a mix of wind scouring and wind loading across gullies and other terrain features.The deepest drifts I encountered that covered any substantial amount of terrain were no more than 1.5 feet deep. Some of these areas held denser wind slab with no cracking or other signs of instability observed.

On open S aspect terrain despite the cloud cover, there was just enough warming and solar radiation that I could make a small pinwheel by tossing a snowball downslope along the snow surface.