Coyote Rock Observation

I toured above Meyers in the late afternoon. The fresh snow was cold and light and trail breaking was easier than I had anticipated. New snow was low density and some small steep test slopes did not reveal much cohesion. The cracking I saw was directly next to my skis except for a steeper area that was undercut by the skin track. The terrain I traveled in was below tree line but most of the trees were dead from the Caldor Fire and offered limited wind reduction. There were a couple fairly large cornices on the leeward side of large house sized boulders that were able to form in this terrain. It appeared that about 20" of new snow had fallen in the previous 24 hours but only trace new snow fell during my time in the field. Moderate winds were blowing some snow near the surface. 

Photo 1: Little new snow fell in the late afternoon here in Meyers and there were patches of blue sky on my tour.

Photo 2: Graupel was easy to see in the storm snow.

Photo 3: Pretty minimal cracking in the new snow near steeper test slopes. 

Photo 4: Cool wind drift feature near a boulder.

Photo 5: Probably the most impressive cracking I observed. This required an undercut slope and the failure was deeper than the upper foot of fresh snow.