Interesting Alpine results

AlpineLifeSnowpackReport , Tuesday 3rd December, 2024 10:15AM

Went out to gather data to build a snowpack profile for the WB area. Snow was boot top well supported in the trees and alpine, crusty below treeline. 0 signs of any instabilities throughout the day. Ascended to the alpine bowl across from Blackcomb peak and dug a pit on a SW facing open steep (~35-40°) aspect. Snow seemed very strong at first glance but ran a rough compression test to see if there would be any results. Surprisingly we observed a double failure at the 60cm and 100cm mark. The top layer of snow easily slid on the harder layer around 100cm. Personal takeaways: Results indicate that there are 2 layers that need to be monitored as the season progresses. We will be particularly watching the bond strength of the top layer with the layer buried around 100cm. Increased loading or rapid changes in temperature could increase reactivity so we will be watching closely for rapid warming or big dumps of snow and reassess if those occur.