Surface hoar on Mt Ellis

On our way up Mt. Ellis, we noted widespread surface hoar on east facing slopes above ~7000', especially in open areas. Grain sizes ranged from 1 mm to 3+ mm at higher elevations. Winds were calm almost all day, even while on the skin track along the ridgeline. Given another 1-2 days of clear, calm conditions in the weather forecast, these surface grains could certainly continue to grow in size before the next storm.

We dug a pit on a south facing slope just below the Mt. Ellis summit. The snowpack on this solar aspect (77 cm) and not quite as deep as on easterly aspects. Although we found some basal facets in our pit, the bottom layer was stronger than we expected. We did not get propagating results on any layer with our ECT. Afterwards, skiing conditions on eastern slopes were excellent.