[Cdt-l] snowpack

[Matthew Edwards]

I am 100 miles east of Yellowstone and live at 9,000 feet.
It has been a low snow year by all accounts.
People that normally go to Togwotee pass and the Bear tooths are coming
here to the bighorns because we have at least some snow.
There are three feet of highly consolidated snow on the ground here in the
big horns.
A snow kiter guest from Big Sky said they are melted out.

But of course; last year the mountains of Wyoming got clobbered in late May
with 2' of wet snow.
They tell me it broke tree branches and sent one through the roof of a
caretakers rv.

Personally i am glad the snow is going away.. the snowmobiler crowd has
worn me out this year.
North Dakota and Wisconsin had very little snow this year so they came here
in huge numbers.

According to our forest service liaison, the snowpack is near normal for
the year overall, but the frequent warm spells caused it to settle and
consolidate earlier so the depth is much less.

I just got done moving tons of snow out from behind the lodge and cabins
using our caterpillar tractor and it certainly is very consolidated
compared to just a month ago.
Couldn't walk without post holing then and today i can motor around
anyplace with just sneakers on.
Bald mountain creek is starting to flow and it has eaten a few holes in the
snowpack already.
Barring a late season barrage, it might be a mellow snow year.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/cdt-l/attachments/20150402/394bd3f3/attachment.html>