Wet snow on Donner Peak

Wet snow existed on all aspects on Donner Peak below 8000 ft. today. Little to no refreeze occurred in this area overnight and evidence of light rain existed up to about 7500 ft. Despite the weak overnight refreeze and the prevalence of wet snow, ski cuts on steep test slopes in the area and snowpit data did not produce unstable test results or loose wet snow instabilities. Snow plows were moving snow off of the railroad bed near the tunnels and dumping large amounts of snow onto the steep, wet N-NE facing slopes below 7000 ft. This heavy loading also did not produce signs of instability or any loose wet snow problems as of 11:30 this morning.

Snowpit: A low elevation (7100 ft) SE aspect. This snowpit shows an isothermal snowpack that is moist all the way to the ground. Evidence of good drainage in the form of percolation tubes and water flowing out of the base of the snowpack was also present.

Photo: A snowpit on a N aspect at about 7800 ft. A semi frozen and melting melt-freeze crust existed on the surface on these aspects. In this photo the lower arrow where the ECTN 18 test result occurred indicates the depth of wet snow.