Lincoln's Throat

Quick report

Cracking

isolated

Traveled into the Walker Brook drainage towards Mount Lincoln, hoping to ski Lincoln's Throat. On the approach, noticed some isolated cracking underfoot on convexities in more wind-affected terrain. We dug a pit a little bit up the slide itself, noting a snow depth up to 220cm in spots. The pit was at an elevation of 4,080', facing NW, and on a slope of 35 degrees. Temps were -2C, sky was overcast, and graupel was falling at a rate of ~2cm/hr. Winds were strong out of the SE with moderate snow transport observed. We dug to a depth of 165cm. The bottom 130cm was a well-consolidated pencil-hard layer, which had a 15cm 4F layer resting on top. On top of this was 15cm of a firmer 1F slab, and an additional 2-3 cm of graupel that had fallen throughout the morning. An ECT was preformed that failed on the 12th tap, propagating about 30cm across the column. The 13th tap sent this crack across the column all the way, causing it to "pop" and slide forward. The failure occurred ~30cm down, at the interface of the 4F and pencil hard layers. Shear quality was Q1. Cracking in isolated wind-sheltered pockets along the approach. Varied in aspect and slope angle, but all cracking was caused by ~5cm ski penetration (weight of a step).

Snowpack

Snow depths in this area varied from 190cm to 220cm in places. Generally well consolidated to the ground, but the snow from the past few days has created instability. A 15cm 4F layer rests under 15cm of firmer, more consolidated 1F snow