Quick report
- Collapsing
- specific
A long walk, avoiding almost all avalanche-terrain, to see what the storm had ultimately buried. From pass-level to 3.5k, there was a prominent crust within the new snow. From 3.5-4.2k, it bifurcated into a double-crust sandwich that skied like a crunchy zipper-crust. Above 4.2k,the upper crust faded away. Trail-breaking was above boot-top in open terrain. In the trees, a thin crust sat 2-3cm above the icy coral-reef, with 10-20cms of fluff above. Skiing in the trees was fluff on crust, improving through the day. On open flat terrain, collapsing was palpable and frequent but didn't travel far. Put in an east-facing profile on a sheltered slope at Middle Kendall Lake (see image). The faceted crust and the mid-storm crust (along with storm-layers) were prominent. Total depth ~220cm. Two ECTs yielded an ECTN and an ECTP29, failing just above the faceted crust. Facets above the crust were fine-grained but still sugary. Breaking down the pit, we also got a planar failure above the faceted crust with a moderate hop (~RB3 or RB4 in effort). There were some signs of mid-storm slide-activity, including some pretty deep point-releases, but no prominent crowns. Steeper test-slopes readily sluffed with today's fluffy new snow -- any activity deeper required a firm kick. Took a cautious peek into the alpine -- didn't see any crowns up there either. It's been snowing all afternoon -- find safe places to enjoy the fluff.