Interesting conditions at shovelnose

Isolated whumpfing underfoot while breaking trail between 1600-1800m. In this location there is 20-50cm HST on top of the Nov17th MFC which is more than 20cm thick. The isolated whumpfs are being caused by 5cm of facets which overly the nov17 crust. There is a sporadic zipper crust on top of those facets which is collapsing. Skiing was good in open trees and poor in the dense trees where there is 10cm or less on top of the crust.

Measured snowdepths: 1100m 50cm 1400m 135cm 1800m 175cm At 1800m I conducted a hasty pit with two compression tests. Both failed SP 35cm down on top of the Nov17th MFC on isolation. Snowpack structure top down: 30cm Fist density new snow 1cm Pencil density decomposing crust 5cm 4F facets Below that there is a very thick crust We had several localized whumpfs and blocky snow as this layer collapsed underfoot. It was generally unreactive to skiier traffic.