Stormy conditions on Elephants Hump

Driving down to Carson Pass it rained until we got to about 7500 ft. on Luther Pass. At that elevation, the rain changed to snow and we started to see accumulation. When we pulled into the parking lot at Red Vista Rd, about 6 inches of new snow existed on the ground. This snow was wet and heavy and quick observations like hand pits and ski cuts on small test slopes indicated that it was not well bonded to the crust below it. Our ski cuts would cause the heavy wet snow to sluff away from the crust if the slope was steep enough.

Once we got above 8000 ft, the snow got colder and dryer. It was more difficult to get it to slide away from the crust. The winds also picked up as we moved into more exposed terrain. Significant wind transport was occurring and we could see large plumes of blowing snow along the nearest ridges. This blowing snow loaded the leeward slopes, but we could only find some very small test slopes to investigate. On these very small test slopes, we could cause some small shooting cracks. We did not venture into larger wind-loaded areas because of the potential consequences.

As we descended, the snow again became wet and heavy below 8000 ft and there was a layer of colder softer snow below the surface. We could trigger small shooting cracks in the sheltered areas by cutting above each other's ski tracks.