We traveled from Guardsman Trailhead to Scott Hill to observe the snow surfaces along the Park City ridgeline. South-facing slopes are barely holding on to any snow and remain crusty. Old wind slabs on north and east-facing slopes have faceted out, although their texture remains.
We dug a snowpit on the shoulder of Scott Hill facing due north at 9900 feet. At this location, the height of snow was only 70cm, but deeper areas of blown-in snow along the ridge ranged from 120 to 170cm. We were surprised by how weak the entire snowpack was, and the basal facets were falling out of the pit wall. An Extended Column Test resulted in propagation with moderate force just below the rain crust, at the basal facets (ECTP19, 56 cm beneath the surface).
Snowpit wall, basal facets were falling out of the pit and extremely weak
Old wind-drifted snow that has faceted out
Serious wind texture on Scotts Hill
Low Snow Coverage on the south side of Scotts Hill/Asia Bowl/Mickey Mouse Mine.
A few friends from our travels enjoying the primarily supportable snow surface
