Snow conditions in the lakes basin.

It was a warm day today in the Mammoth area as I toured to the Mammoth crest. moist surface conditions dominated most aspects I traveled today. While more consistent on solar aspects I did observe moist surface grains on shaded northerly aspects below 9500’.  While on the ascent my skins started to glob up a bit even on a well-used and condensed skin track. Above 10,000’ surface conditions are heavily wind affected and I did observe some small areas of recent drifting.  along my descent, I found one area of more substantial wind load and a quick hand pit identified a 1 f slab about 21 cm thick over F+ faceted snow that broke under moderate force. I also found a thin .5 cm zipper crust between 10,200’ and 9,500’ and moist sticky snow at lower elevations. I was able to initiate some small roller balls on a few terrain features, but they broke apart quickly and I did not observe any pinwheeling.

I dug a pit on a due north aspect just under 10,000’ and I identified a largely faceted snowpack. test results identified a weak layer 29 cm from the ground between the November and December snow. While my tests continue to highlight the energy within this weak layer, they also show this layer has gained some strength.  CT 24 SC, ECTX, PST(40/100)END. See pit profile for more details.

Apart from my propagating test results, no signs of instability were observed