Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
Today, our avalanche course experienced lots of cracking in the ~10” of new storm snow. Near the Sherburne Trail at the base of the Little Headwall, hand shear tests fractured/collapsed before being fully isolated. We also practiced snow pit observations at this location. Two compression tests resulted in sudden collapses during isolation. One test resulted in a significant (3cm) collapse of the column on the first easy tap from the wrist. We performed one extended column test which resulted in a fracture propagating across the whole column on the first tap from the wrist. All of these collapses occurred in a fist-hard layer of new snow appx. 24cm down from the surface. The slab above the weak layer was incredibly soft (also fist-hard). It was informative to see formal snowpit tests validate the results of less formal hand shear tests. The lack of wind led us to hypothesize that we were seeing evidence of storm slab hazard. The upper half of the Sherburne trail was super enjoyable powder skiing. The lower half was still fun, but there’s no base below the fresh snow.