Observation type
Snowpack Observer Anonymous Keep me anonymous if published yes Location (general area) Jean Peak (i.e., the peak next to San Jacinto) Latitude Longitude Date (yyyymmdd) 20220226 Time 12pm Road conditions to area Temperature Sky clear (no clouds) Wind speed Light (1-16mph Flags/twigs in motion) Wind direction not observed Wind direction in degrees Slope aspect North East Aspect in degrees Slope angle Elevation Snow depth Boot/ Ski penetration Activity, recent avalanches No Brief descrip Whumphing noises, shooting cracks. collapsing no Rapid warming no Obvious avalanche path no Terrain trap no Comment We arrived at the top of the tram around 9AM. The approach to the bottom of Jean, which got quite a bit of sun, was a glopfest and slowed travel down significantly...skin wax would have been a good idea. Surface conditions varied wildly from cold powder, supportable crusts, to mank—all dependent on solar input. It seemed like the San Jacinto zone's upper elevations scored 1-2 feet of new snow from last week's storm. Once we got the the bottom of Jean (~10,000), travel became much easier, albeit still quite a bit of work breaking trail—not used to breaking trail in 2 feet of powder in SoCal! We topped out around 1PM, and the air felt chilly (probably low thirties) and calm. We spun a few laps in the trees and enjoyed some of the better snow quality I've experienced in SoCal. No signs of instability in the NE trees — we stomped on a few convexities and pulled a hand shear with no results. The 'pack seemed right-side up. I wouldn't be surprised if steeper, solar aspects were a different story, but we didn't see any loose wet activity on the neighboring SE face of San Jacinto. Publish this observation Yes I would like this observation Published |