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Snowpack Observations

We went on a mission to ski some spring snow on Birch Mountain yesterday.

• Solar radiation felt very intense in the E facing bowls above 9000′ after 8 am.
• We did not see any signs of instability, not even any rollerballs on any aspects in any terrain.
• 830 at 9450′ boot pen was 1 cm. HS 25 cm
• 930 at 10,000′ boot pen was 5 cm in wind sculpted snow.
• Firm and smooth wind packed snow on E aspect  did not soften until about 1230. We needed ski crampons to cross them and ski pen was only 2 cm on the uphill side.
• We skied a smooth, wind packed panel in a shallow gully feature from 10,800 down to about 9000′ around 1300. Boot pen was 4 cm at 9500′ at 1320. Good skiing on wind packed snow that is turning granular in the top few centimeters. Not corn yet.
• Below 9000′ on lower angle E aspects the snow surface consists of huge cornflake with icy points. They are difficult to skin on when frozen and got soft mid day. Skiing quality: Marginal to terrifying.
• Below that we followed the N facing low angle sidewalls of a drainage and got some fun turns on soft snow just supportive enough to make turns.
• Shoulders and areas higher up that were exposed to the high winds look like waves in the ocean. Those features became soft earlier in the day. Mostly because they are so sculpted and thin in some places.
• We made it up to 11,500′ from where we could see that the snow on the SE facing summit slope is heavily wind affected with wide swathes of exposed tallus. Some smooth panels on more easterly tilted panels. SE and S aspect looks extremely textured and like really bad skiing.
• On a whole this was a great adventure with stunning views and some good skiing that comes at a high price.