Today I went for a snow check on the Monument Snowcat Skiing property. Clouds came in sporadically and hovered at and above 8000', otherwise clear skies filled with migrating Sandhill Cranes. Early this morning a trace of new snow fell on top of a weakening snow surface (see picture below). Among the new snow crystals were surface hoar feathers up to 8mm in length, which made for a soft, loud powder type of riding. A snowpit on a NW facing slope at 7900' held a height of snow of 75 cm and showed faceting snow from the snow surface down to 20 cm beneath the surface (1mm facets). At this location, we found a rain crust from the start of the 11/08 storm 37 cm beneath the surface, overlying a 4 cm layer of faceting rounds beneath it (see Snow Pilot image). A compression test resulted in CT15 Q2 along this layer beneath the rain crust, which was not replicable in a second compression test. Almost 1000' higher on an E facing slope, this rain crust was not present and snow at the ground was moist.

Overall, things are looking good for November in this region. The upper 20cm of the snowpack is faceting, which I expect began on 11/11 as cloudy night skies held off the process before then. The rain crust from the start of the 11/08 storm was evident in areas that harbor snow, but on solar aspects and areas not conducive to holding snow this crust wasn't evident. For now, riding conditions are excellent on NW-N-NE aspects. However, it looks as if we are set up for a Thanksgiving weak layer when it snows next.