Pigs Back

The creek bed to Commonwealth Lake is not frozen which made for a challenging skin track through steep terrain and deadfall. Skiing was good with reasonable rock coverage. The ski out to Commonwealth Valley through the narrow creek bed was not completely filled in which made the exit of the loop challenging.

Snow column test done on the north facing slope below the west col of Commonweatlh Peak at 2350m. Slope angle was 27 degrees. HS was about 100cm. CT 10 with planar failure about 13 cm below the surface between the new storm snow and the recent crust. An uneven break occurred at CT 20 at the November crust about 60 cm deep. Surprisingly the facet layer at the ground stayed solid throughout the entire test. Layers can be seen in the photo. No recent avalanche activity but old slide debris was observed along the slopes of the test likely from a failed cornice.