Rain crust and wind slabs

Toured into the Chain Lakes zone to evaluate rain-snow line and look for wind-slab development.

• Rain-snow line approx. 6500 ft with a 1" breakable rain crust on all aspects
  • Made for some extremely challenging skiing
• Above 6500 ft, found 2-4" of new snow with upwards of 6-8" drifted into wind-slabs on leeward slopes and cross-loaded terrain
  • Recent wind-slabs formed above a thin sun crust (3/21) with lower density snow below sitting above a thick sun crust (3/13)
• Surface cracking observed in wind-loaded pockets on an NE aspect directly below the ridgeline from the weight of a skier
• Clear skies gave way to mostly cloudy skies and intermittent snow showers by 2 pm