New Snow in the Mt. Rose Area

We went to Tamarack Peak to see the new storm snow and how the layers are changing in the early season snowpack.  The snowpack continues to grow in this area with a base of around 2-3' of snow on most N-NE-E aspects, with sun exposed terrain and lower elevations showing much less snow coverage.  Faceted snow has been forming over the last couple weeks during the break in storms just below a surface rain crust.  These facets showed some weakness with snowpack tests along with a small whumpfing noise while on our ski tour today.  The 6 to 8'' of new dense snow that fell overnight into today improved snow coverage, but did not overload this faceted layer.  This layer will continue to be a concern as we move forward with winter and more loading events in the future. 

Early season conditions continue with low snow, barely covered rocks, stumps, logs, and open water features. Upon our departure from the area around 1:45pm, snow level was rising and had gone up to at least 9,000'.