Quick report
We have stubborn slabs with poor structure in our snowpack. I dug a pit on a SE aspect at 7700ft and found two well consolidated slabs sitting on weak layers; one about a foot down and the second about 3 feet down. On the upper layer, I got a sudden planar fracture but no propagation with tests (CT 25, ECTN 23) and the bottom layer was nonreactive in tests. However, both slabs slid with minimum to moderate pressure with shovel sheer tests and had clean shear qualities. With more precip in the forecast for this weekend we should be cautious about these weak layers as added weight could make them more reactive.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 28
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- Not Observed
- Recent Snowfall
- Trace
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Snowpack
I found about 10 cm of new snow on top of two, deteriorating melt-freeze crusts (10cm and 15cm down). Snow on top of these crusts is not currently consolidated but we should keep eyes on this interface as we get more accumulation. Below that, snow seems generally right-side-up however there is a weak layer about 30cm down and large grain, unconsolidated snow 1 meter down.