Variability on Red Lake Peak

1 to 3 inches of new snow from yesterday on the northerly aspects of Red Lake Peak. The new snow had already mostly melted off the aspects facing the southern half of the compass. On those near and below treeline N-NE aspects with snow above 8000 ft, 30 to 60 cm of snow exists. The old weak facets still exist in the snowpack and the upper part of the pack has also grown weaker and more faceted since Dec. 7th. On N-NE facing near treeline slopes some small wind slabs had formed during the storm. The deepest of these only measured about 20cm (or 7 inches). These small wind slabs did not show signs of instability in snowpit tests or general observations. Nor did data indicate that they added enough weight to the existing snowpack to cause the old persistent weak layers to reactivate. As in other areas, tests on these weak layers still show a great deal of variation with a few tests still indicating that fractures can travel along the weak layers while most tests showed a weak but stable snowpack.

Above treeline numerous rocks and other exposed obstacles and anchors remain on the N-NE aspects. Today's NE winds were also scouring yesterday's snow away from the higher more exposed slopes.