Norway Yurt area

Several wind slab avalanches were intentionally triggered from stomping around on ridgelines.  One wind slab was remotely triggered while skiing along a ridgeline, then another convex rollover was released sympathetically further down the ridgeline.   Wind speed and temperatures increased today.  Our objective today was to try to verify where the 2/14 Buried Surface Hoar lives in the terrain.  We found 2 of 4 snowpits dug today to harbor the buried surface hoar, but we found it was partially damaged before being buried.  4-6 mm Graupel was noted at this layer as well.  

3 D1.5 intentionally triggered windslabs 1 D2 remotely triggered windslab

We were targeting locations where we thought we could find the 2/14 Buried Surface Hoar, so we targeted lower slope angle locations that were sheltered from the sun on North and East aspects. 

There is about 1 foot/30 centimeters of snow at the surface since 2/16.  We found the 2/14 Buried Surface Hoar down 50-60 cm/1.75-2 feet from the surface on sheltered East and North Aspects in 2 of our 4 snowpits.  We tested the layer with snowpack tests, and did not get propagation.  There was graupel that was mixed in with the surface hoar.   The January facets 

The 2/8 interface- sitting above the January facets was found 65 cm/ just over 2 feet from the surface.  These grains are still quite weak.