Quick report
We skied an East facing aspect at 8000' which is 30-35 degrees. There was 15cm of new snow on top of a wind/warm-up skin from yesterday (2/25), under the soft skin was 15cm of soft snow. The skiing was enjoyable and we observed no signs of instability during our descent.
In sheltered North facing areas, the snow was still soft and unaffected by the wind or sun.
We dug 2 pits today to target the Persistent Slab problem. Our pits were close together on an East facing aspect at 6500'. The snow was 130cm (4') deep. 4 Compression Tests were performed, and one of these tests resulted in a Sudden Collapse at 40cm down on a crust facet combo. An Extended Column Test showed ECTN down 15cm (New/Old interface) and down 25cm on top of the Presidents Day warm-up crust. Two Propagation Saw Tests were performed on the weak layer down 40cm. The results in both tests were PST End 40/100. Our takeaway from performing these tests was that triggering a Persistent Slab is unlikely, except on isolated shallow unsupported terrain features.Weather
- Air Temp
- 25
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- 20cm
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Overcast skies, light snow, light southerly winds.
Snowpack
We observed a wind skin but no wind slab in our travels from 6100' to 8000' on E and ENE facing slopes. This was surprising given the consistent Moderate winds yesterday.