AST1 Snow Hunt

<p>Found some good snow in the trees and Lee slopes of cutblocks in Calzone today. Our AST1 class chose that area to avoid potentially wind affected terrain and high-consequence slopes. We got several good views into alpine terrain and saw significant wind affect, but no new natural avalanches. Our pit found the Dec 7 crust down about 65 cm, but it was fairly well bonded. We got compression tests to fail in the moderate range and extended column tests to fail in the hard range. (ECTP 22 SP down 65 FC over crust) We didn’t see any signs of instability anywhere we rode, and felt we had a pretty stable snowpack. Day was warm, about -3 after lunch and snowing in the afternoon. No wind. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Mellow slopes, Dense trees, Convex slopes, Open trees.

Terrain Avoided

Alpine slopes, Steep slopes, Convex slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.

Snow Conditions

Hard, Deep powder, Wind affected, Powder.

Weather Conditions

Stormy, Warm, Cloudy, Sunny.