Hollywood Bowl Area

Toured up above McLeod Lake looking for the line between lower elevation wet snow and higher elevation dry faceted snow. Snow on all aspects below ~9000' was wet, spring-like snow with thin, patchy coverage. Above Horseshoe Lake the snow became dry and wintry except on E aspects with tree cover to reflect radiation back onto the surface. Snow in the trees still wet up to ~9300' where things generally change to dry. Did a few targeted spot weathers to confirm wet vs. dry surface metamorphism: 9000' E aspect at Horseshoe- snow turns to dry from wet, Tair- 9deg. C, Tsurf- 0deg. C, Boot pen-10cm, Ski pen- 5cm; 9100' ESE aspect in the trees between Horseshoe and McLeod- snow wet again, Tsurf- 0deg. C, snow depth ranges from 10cm to 45cm; 9300' NNW aspect on the open shore of McLeod Lake- Tair- 5deg. C, Tsurf- -1deg. C, Boot pen- 20cm (breakable melt-freeze crust), Ski pen- 1cm. Hand shears on WNW aspect at 9390' heading up the ridge above McLeod failed easily 30cm down in a thin faceted layer above a hard crust. A quick test pit at 9537' on a NNW aspect in a large opening higher on the ridge had mixed results but none that pointed to a propensity for failure propagation (see attached profile).

Overcast, calm, and warm all afternoon. No signs of any recent point releases below the Mammoth Crest. Skating down the Tamarack ski trails at 430pm almost all wet snow had re-frozen.