Carson Pass Observation

Temperatures were close to freezing which is warmer that it's been and the new storm snow was clearly heavier than the older snow on Carson Pass late this morning. Very shortly after leaving the parking lot, I intentionally triggered a slide on a small steep slope. After spending some time examining this slide, I skinned around trying but ultimately failing to duplicate these results. The new storm snow felt heavy and slabby but I only saw small cracks elsewhere which was frankly surprising after the fairly impressive slide minutes from the car. In some wind effected areas on both E and W aspects I did get some cracking but nothing beyond the length of my skis. Visibility was poor and I wasn't able to see more distant slopes. 

Photo 1: Intentionally triggered slide on the steep slopes near the trailhead.

Photo 2: Small shooting cracks

Photo 3: Low cloud ceiling made longer range observations challenging. 

Photo 4: Some cracking on a west facing test slope

Photo 5: Settlement cone and a nearly buried XC trail marker. There is a ton of snow on Carson Pass.