Crystal Backcountry - Cement Basin, Lakes Basin, and west aspects off Norse and East Peak

We spent the day hunting persistent weak layers in the mountains north and east of Crystal Ski Area. We were especially curious what we might find in slightly thinner areas of the zone. Our main take away: nothing has changed. The snowpack is still weak, the grains are still scary, and poor test scores and whumphs (would-be avalanches if the slope was steeper) show that avalanches on these buried layers are still possible. Collapses in mid-slope terrain far from the ridge highlighted the potential for persistent slabs to occur well away from the more defined start zones near the top of the peaks. We planned our day around this problem by avoiding all steep and open slopes on north, east, and west aspects. Fortunately, that left us with the phenomenal light and fluffy snow conditions on lower-angled and treed terrain. We also observed some evidence of wind transport near and below ridgelines and were able to generate shooting cracks and a small pocket of wind slab on a test slope.

If we were recreating this weekend, we would roll out the same conservative tour plan as today; we see no indication that the persistent slab problem is going to improve in the immediate future. 

We experienced two whumpfs a short distance apart well below ridgeline. One on a west aspect at 6000ft and the other on a southwest aspect at 6000ft. We were also able to generate some shooting cracks and a very small pocket of soft wind slab on a test feature below ridgeline.

The surface conditions remain excellent. In most shaded terrain, with the exception of more wind-affected areas near ridgeline, fist hard snow on the surface quickly gives way to 4F and then 1F until the JDL and/or 1/10 complex. Surface conditions on more south-facing terrain at the middle and upper elevations were generally still quite good, though a bit denser. We dug a pit on a ESE aspect at 6000ft and a NW aspect at 6600ft. Snowpack structure and test results continued to cause concern in the NW-facing pit. The ESE-facing pit had better structure and snowpack tests were unremarkable. 

NW @ 6600ft - HS 180 cm

JDL down 42 cm - CT21 SC, ECTN23, PST 40/100 End in 4F- faceted crystals just below thin MFcr at the top of the JDL

1/10 down 52 cm - PST 65/100 End in faceted crystals just below stouter crust

 

ESE @ 6000' - 215 cm

JDL down 45 cm - 1F+/P and not weak - PST 100/100 End

1/10 down 48 cm - Weaker crystals below ice lens, ECTX - fracture without propagation on extra-hard taps after 30, PST 60/100 End