Snowpack observations on Jake's Peak

Location Name: 
Jake's Peak
Region: 
West Shore Area
Date and time of observation: 
Wed, 02/24/2010 - 10:30
Location Map: 
United States
38° 58' 7.5072" N, 120° 6' 58.1148" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Whumphing noises, shooting cracks, or collapsing
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Public
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

I experienced 4 very small whumpfs between 8,600' and my high point at 8,900'. A noticablly upsidedown snowpack with 4F over F. Hand pits showed the inversion layer unreactive with an easy shear around 20-30cm deep near the base of the new snow. This was 15-20cm below the inversion layer. On the lower portions of the peak, ski pen was significantly deeper than the upsidedown layer and no evidence of instability was observed for my first 1,800' of climbing. As the trees started to thin out at 8,600' I got my first whumpf (again they were very small). In this area there was a little more wind affect and ski pen was not as deep. After a few more very small whumpfs skinning up through the lower angle terrain below the summit ridge, I deceided that was far enough. No evidence of instability whatsoever on the ski back down.

Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 

 

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: