Moose Creek

The goal today was to check out mid elevation south facing terrain as this is an area we have not focused on recently. I dug twice mid slope on a 35 degree convex rollover that runs into a creek bottom terrain trap. This terrain was chosen because it is representative of terrain skiers and riders often move through when approaching or departing from larger ski objectives and can let their guard down. 

From bottom to top of the snowpack, Everything below the Christmas crust is one layer of Ice that ranges from Knife- to Knife+ hardness. Above the crusts it is faceted from crust to surface but in two distinct layers. The lower layer is comprised of larger 3-4mm F hardness facets, while the upper layer is smaller 1-3 mm 4F hardness facets. 

No test results due to a lack of a slab. If we get a slab soon, I expect persistent slab avalanches in terrain like this. In the meantime, it was easy to push sloughs 4-10 inches deep running on the Ice layer. As temperatures warm, we could see the dry loose snow transition to wet loose.