Elephants Back

Location Name: 
Elephants Back
Region: 
Carson Pass Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sun, 12/03/2017 - 12:00
Location Map: 
United States
38° 40' 42.7512" N, 119° 58' 59.6424" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Public
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Snow on the ground from TH and could ski from the car.    Evidence of wind transport on our ski tour from TH to approximately 9500 on Elephants Back.  New cornice formation and wind scoured surface.  Multiple hand pits on Lee (N/Ne) aspects revealed 15-30 cm of new snow well bonded to old snow surface.  We did find small and isolated wind slab formation around 9000 feet on a steeper  rollover (greater than 35 degrees) slope on a NE aspect.  Below 8500 the creeks are open in areas and coverage of underlying obstacles varies alot.

Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 

Alpenglow Expedition guide.

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
25% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: 

Started the day at 0930 with the remnants of the overnight storm cloud cover.  Clearing continued thoughout the morning and mostly clear skies prevailed by lunchtime.  SW winds were light most of the day with occasional moderate gusts near ridgeline.