Below is a snow pit profile done by Climbing Rangers recently. The pit was dug on the Ingraham Glacier behind Cathedral Rocks in an area sometimes referred to as "Dunn's Roll". This area is a notorious spot for being wind loaded and avalanche prone.
The following was also noted by Dan V. during his observation: "It's interesting how cold the snowpack still is. None of the specific layers were all that surprising or concerning, but it seems to me that rapid change to that pack could cause problems. We observed no signs of instability (i.e. shooting cracks or whumpfs) and overall it seemed to be a well bonded snowpack structure. We performed an ECT and got no results. We also performed several hand shears as we traveled with no noteworthy results. Another interesting observation was the extent of wind rows everywhere above Ingraham Flats. The entire upper mountain must have experienced substantial wind transport."
May 8
Below is a snow pit profile done on the Cowlitz glacier just above Camp Muir. The following observations were also made: "The biggest thing that stood out is that [there is] still a very cold snowpack in the upper 1.5 meters. We did an ECT with no results. All the interfaces seemed well bonded, with a big warmup I could see things running on the thick crust down 59cm, but it seems like it would take a lot. Probing around it felt like consistent 1F below 90 cm."
This page will be used for sharing local weather and snow conditions at Mt. Rainier. Please refer to NOAA and NWAC for current weather hazards warning and weather forecasts.
There are links to the right to a variety of forecasting tools.
