Mt. Elma

Played it safe on mellow terrain on Elma. Observed two weak layers in a pit, but did not trigger anything while skiing. Had some great turns!

Dug a pit and did an isolated column compression test on north aspect at 1400m just below summit of Mt. Elma on a small 29-30deg slope in an opening in the trees. 35cm soft storm slab failed easily after a few wrist taps. A further 30cm down (65cm total), a weak layer on top of melt crust from over a week ago failed after a few taps from the elbow. Given the reactivity of the pit we skied very conservatively, but did not trigger either weak layer, even while skiing over small convexities and steeper (>30deg) sections in the glades. Noticed that the thickness of the storm snow was significantly less in most of the glades, probably only 20cm, as compared to the more open pit location.