Thin Cover and Weak Snow in Lionhead

With another day of high pressure and clear skies, Alex and I rode into Lionhead and parked the snowmobiles at the top of Ski Hill. The coverage in and out was decent for this time of year, but thin cover and sharks abound. We dug a snowpit at the top of Ski Hill (8150')  and then toured up to the south end of Lionhead Ridge and dug there (8650').

Our snowpits told very similar stories of a weak, layered snowpack from top to bottom: glittering surface hoar on top and different variations of facets to the base. In both snowpits we got ECTN's on interfaces between faceting snow. In our upper pit, we noted a more cohesive slab on top, but it was just not enough to get propagation in that spot. 

As we skinned up the ridge, we also noted very isolated collapses, one to two feet from the tips of our skis. But overall, there were no signs of instability, just weak snow, growing weaker by the day. 

Until the next round of snowfall, our main hazards continue to be the rocks, trees, and stumps just beneath the surface.