Snowpit from Elephant's Hump

Widespread surface hoar in this area on all aspects (photos). In open areas SH grain size was 10-15mm and as small as 3mm in less open areas. Near surface faceting at work with snowpack temp gradients observed on the order of 50 deg C per meter. No evidence of old basal snow layers from snowfall prior to Nov 1 was observed in this area up to the summit at 9,000'. Numerous hand pits on N-NE-E aspects in the area showed very similar to identical snowpack as recorded in the pit. Surface hoar may pose a future problem if it is able to survive warming air temps and wind damage prior to potential burial by the next snowfall event forecast for Nov 8.