General Observations

Lutak Zone: 2600’/calm/clear/cold. Widespread 3-4mm surface hoar and near-surface facets at the top of the snowpack are cause for concern with any future load. Located above 1500′ on protected lee-ward slopes, once buried these stout surface forms will become persistent weak layers (PWL‘s) in the snowpack. If they blow away before the next storm, they will not disappear but instead become re-distributed. Rain runnel rivulets under these soft top layers were bizarre and a pit revealed a series of melt-freeze crusts in the upper snowpack with well defined ice and melt-freeze layer from the historic Dec. 2 warm-up and precip event. Stay vigilant and manage terrain wisely in the weeks ahead.