Observations from Silver Peak

We toured into Silver Peak today to look at deep slab conditions and to look at snow surface conditions ahead of the approaching storm system. Early morning partly cloudy skies had quicking become full cloud cover by 8 am. Periods of light convective snowfall occurred from time to time while on tour during the morning hours. Small graupel was deposited on top of small surface hoar.

Snow surface conditions consisted of breakable crust on solar aspects at all elevations and on many low to moderate angle northerly aspects, especially below 7,600'. Minor amounts of blowing snow were observed on the ridgetops during gusts, but no new wind slabs existed just yet.

We dug a snowpit on a N aspect near treeline just below 8,000' in an area with a history of deep slab avalanches during prior deep slab avalanche cycles. In this pit, we saw no indications that the current P hard deep slab over rounded 4F+ hard rounded facet weak layer would fail without a very large new snow load.