Nordstrom - Brule

southrockies , Wednesday 6th March, 2024 5:15PM

We spent the day north of Sparwood in the Nordstrom area. The clear skies in the morning gave us plenty of visibility to view an extensive avalanche cycle that likely occurred during the stormy period over the weekend. Large avalanches were observed on numerous slopes but generally more natural activity occurred on north-northeast facing slopes. We suspect that the deep crowns (estimated 1 to 1.5 meters in depth) were down to the December 23 melt-freeze crust in this area and Feb 3 crust down 80 cm. We had no result with our extended column test (ECTX) but the Propagation Saw Test provided an eye-opening result: 40/100 end, down 95 on Dec 23 facets on a crust.