Icy Gulch

Hiked up Mt. Roberts and transitioned to skins at the tram. We toured up to Icy Gulch and dug a pit near the top. Snow depth exceeded probe length (>400 cm). The pit depth was 115 cm. The top 50 cm of the snowpack was wet. We had no results on our ECT, but noted density changes around several crusts, particularly around 30 cm, 50 cm and 90cm down, which were reactive in our shovel shear tests. Riding down Icy Gulch, the snow quality was good and felt like corn snow - not sticky. The exit had excellent coverage all the way to Perseverance Trail. We then skinned down to the Granite Basin trail fork. We observed multiple avalanches on Gastineau and Roberts that appeared to have been triggered by cornice failures. We also observed widespread wet loose activity that was easy to manage with careful line choice, though it could be more problematic in steeper terrain.

Dug a pit on a northerly aspect. Total snow depth was unknown and exceeded our probe length (>400 cm). Our pit depth was 115 cm. We noted multiple layers within the snowpack. ECTX, but we had STVQ1 results at 29 cm down and STEQ1 results at 51 cm  and 91cm down. These occurred around density changes and knife-hard crusts. The snowpack appeared wet in the upper 50 cm.