Grassy Hut

Spent 2 nights at the grassy hut. Skinned in Feb 19, moderate to heavy snowfall the entire day. Spent the day Feb 20 riding mellow treed slopes around the hut. We decided to be conservative based on our field observations of small shooting cracks, new loading the previous day, easy column test results, and the persistent slab problem. We found the snowpack to be more reactive on steep open slopes at treeline than in the alpine, possibly due to warming at lower elevations. Lots of powdery fun snowboarding and skiing! Another great reading week at the Grassy Hut!

Stopped to dig pits as a group, results from all 3 snowpits were easy failure on storm snow 20cm down. Moderate failure on persistent slab layer 40 cm down (sudden pop and slide forward). We were also experiencing small shooting cracks when stepping off the skin track on steep slopes. Chose a more conservative line to avoid steep, open, convex slopes. Dug another pit at higher elevation 2050 meters, similar south aspect. No results from column test at this elevation.