Observations from Solar Aspects on Slide Mountain

I toured WNW – SW – S – SE aspects today with the goal of assessing crust development on solar exposed slopes and taking a closer look at steeper, wind loaded, southerly gullies to check for any obvious wet snow instabilities. At 09:45 on the summit of HWY 431 my car thermometer read 35 degrees F. Skinning up westerly slopes with a northerly tilt revealed a trace – 2” of new, wind deposited snow from yesterday’s system mixed with exposed crusts. High clouds and the remaining SW wind kept most surfaces cool and the new snow on these aspects was still relatively dry around 10:45 during my ascent. Moving to the other side of the ridge I dug a quick hole on a micro SE aspect around 9320’ to look at the upper snowpack. At my location around 11:25 there was a trace of new snow on the surface that was still wintry but warming and would clump when squeezed. Below that was a crust approximately 2-3” thick above a 2” layer of dry snow sitting atop another crust. This stratigraphic pattern was consistent within the upper 15-20 inches of the pack. The slope was about 27-29 degrees and the upper crust at that location had not undergone any substantial melt. This crust was supportive to ski travel down to my low point of about 8160’. A mix of melt forms and wind deposited snow was encountered on my descent. I did not see any obvious signs of wet snow instability in the main avalanche gullies coming of the SE shoulder of Rose proper.