Refreezing on Mt. Judah

Above 7500 ft. 15 to 20 cm of new snow rested on top of a 6 to 7 cm rain crust. Below this crust the old snowpack had started to refreeze. Some water still existed in the snowpack. Near the bottom of the pack, the old facet layers remained wet and soft. At the noted GPS point, one of the ECT tests I performed today showed that fractures could still propagate through this wet facet layer at the bottom of the snowpack. Other tests indicated that while the wet layer remains weak it is becoming more difficult for fractures to travel through the layer. Some minor skier triggered cracking also occurred today but the cracks did not extend very far away from my skis. Data showed that the snowpack is slowly refreezing and starting to gain strength.

Along Wildflower Ridge and the top of Judah, only small localized wind slabs existed. Ski cuts on wind loaded test slopes and small cornice pieces dropped onto wind loaded test slopes did not result in any failures.

Photo 1: The upper bowls of Judah - Numerous rocks remain exposed and only small wind slabs and cornices existed.

Photo 2: Minor cracking around my skis on a NE aspect at 7900 ft.

Video: ECT's and a PST from NE facing slopes between 7900 ft and 8100 ft. These show various degrees of propagation, however none of them fractured across the entire column. The test that did propagate occurred at 7800 ft on a NE aspect and is mentioned in the text above.