Wet Snow and Improving Stability on Stevens Peak

We wanted to see the extent of melting and wet snow on solar aspects and the status of the Dec 11 facets in the Carson Pass area. Stevens Peak offered terrain where we could see both of these things.  Below 8600 ft while climbing up the E aspects, we found thin snow cover at best and exposed ground at worst. Snow conditions ranged from soft and punchy in the trees where no real refreeze had occurred to firm on open shaded slopes to soft and wet on sunny open slopes. On the way up we did feel the Dec 11 facet layer with our poles in some areas. Once we got above 8600 ft, coverage improved. Some slopes still held bare ground especially along ridgelines and on wind-scoured slopes, but many slopes held supportable snow cover.

We found a NE aspect and felt the Dec 11 facets buried in the snowpack with our poles. We dug a snowpit to get more information about this layer. The soft weak snow was still there with strong snow on top of it. In this spot, our observations and snowpit tests showed an improvement in stability (see pit for details).

We continued up and switched to a more southerly aspect. We found a few inches of soft wet surface snow and an overall shallow snowpack. It remained ski supportable until we descended around noon. We did see some minor roller balls but no larger signs of wet snow instability.