Observation Date: 12/05/2020

Route/Location:
From the road, walked up to about 8000′ on the ridge below the main peak.

Weather:
Clear and dead calm. Warm… no thermometer but warmer than the valley floor. Inversions are strengthening (see pic).

Wind:
None, very pleasant.

New Snow: No New Snow

Avalanche Activity:
None

Other Comments:
I dug a pit on a north aspect at 8200′. HS= 120 cm. The snowpack was pretty consolidated, mostly 4F and 1F rounds down to about 50 cm above the ground, with a stout 2 cm thick crust at about 50 cm. Below this crust were facets, then the pack turned into a complex of crust-facet combos (see pic). The bottom 25 cm were frozen facets. Tried a couple ECTs, got nothing, still good bonding between the crusts and surrounding layers.

Observer: Joe Messina