Facets on Rubicon Peak

Northerly facing aspects on Rubicon Peak above 8200 ft. held decent snow coverage with snow depths around 80 cm (32 in) in most places. Numerous rocks and other obstacles still remain uncovered despite the snow coverage. The snowpack consisted of a slightly more consolidated but still soft upper layer with very weak loose snow (facets) below this layer. The weak facets rested on top of a thick rain crust that is starting to erode a little bit. Some small skier triggered cracking did occur in some areas but these cracks stayed close to our skis. Little to no slab layer exists above this weak layer in most places. Near the summit of Rubicon, one small hard wind slab still lingered on top of the facets and tests on this wind slab did yield unstable results. However, the wind slab was very small and other wind slabs did not react in nearby areas. 

Below 8200 ft snow depth quickly decreased. By 7800 ft only 3 to 8 cm (1-3 in) existed on the shaded aspects. 

Photo 1: 2m ECTP12 on a small isolated N facing slope where a hard wind slab existed on top of very weak snow. This area was very small and isolated and would not involve enough snow to bury a person if it did break.

Photo 2: Minor cracking around my skis on a N aspect @ 8440 ft. 

Photo 3: Coverage on a N aspect @ 7200 ft.