Return to Ebbetts Pass

Very firm conditions at Ebbetts Pass today. I returned to the same location as on 11/29 to compare overall snow coverage, and to look more specifically at changes in snowpack layers.

Even after warm daytime temps this past week, overall snowpack coverage did not appear to have changed much (pics 1 and 2). Pic 1 is from today, and pic 2 is of the same terrain from last week.

The surface snow was noticeably stronger than last week. With zero boot pen in most locations today, I was happy to have my axe in hand, and my partner took advantage of the firm conditions to practice self arrest. However, when I dug immediately adjacent to last week's snow profile, I found the snow underneath the surface to be weakening. The crust in between the facet layers was Pencil hard last week, and 1 Finger hard this week (pic 3). Last week, when I broke the crust into pieces they were irregular in size and not discernable as individual snow grains. This week the crust broke into consistently sized individual grains that had obvious angles to them. Similarly, last week the layer at the bottom of the snowpack was hard to dig through with my shovel. This week that same layer was only 1 Finger hard and broke into obvious large grains with angles (pic 4).

Winds were moderate out of the north at Ebbetts Pass, but no wind transport was observed and no loose snow on the surface was observed. Precipitation began to fall as we were driving back over Luther Pass around 1:15pm. Initially it was falling as a snow/rain mix, but as we drove down into South Tahoe it changed to rain.