Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 11/24/2015
Name: Dustin Eldridge
Date of Observation: 11/24/2015
Name: Dustin Eldridge
Subject: Mt. Owen Snowpack Update
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: 11,600
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: 11,600
Avalanches: None witnessed.
Weather: Calm, clear and rather warm. 42 Farenheit at Kebler trailhead
Snowpack: Dug two pits around 11,600 feet in the basin between Purple and Owen.
First pit dug on ENE aspect. HS=60 cm. From the bottom, there was around 5cm of 1-3 mm facets with a deteriorating crust above, topped by 40 cm of 1mm and Fist hardness grains. This was topped by 10 cm of 4f windslab and capped with 5 cm of 1f/p wind crust. Crust either gave no penetration or in shallower areas your boot went all the way to the ground.
Snowpit 1
Second pit was dug less than 15 yards away on same feature, slightly higher elevation and slightly more N-facing. HS=140 cm and no boot pen. The top 5cm of the pack was Pencil hardness windslab with 1f-4f slab comprising the rest of the pack. Couldn’t find any depth hoar or faceted crystals on the bottom of the pack. No tests conducted unfortunately. Wouldn’t expect any results except maybe on the Crust/facet combo of the smaller pit. Surprised at the uniformity of this pit, some minor density changes but layering was difficult to find.
Snowpit 2