Devils Lake

Touring the SW slope of Devil's Peak found 45-80cm of cold fresh unconsolidated new snow sitting on the previous weeks warm up and rain. At the lake level temps were 33 degrees by 11 am, at 6500' temp was in the high 20's. Near the 6500' line another party reported triggering small wind slabs. At the higher elevation in more wind exposed locations the snow was noticeably more reactive. Found evidence of shooting cracks from rider initiated turns and much smaller ones from skinning. Dug at quick pit at 6500' on a 35 degree slope in a wind exposed area. Snow was 75 cm of unconsolidated new snow sitting on a firm ice layer. Bond between new snow and ice layer appeared to be good and unreactive. Shovel test did show that the previous days snow and the new snow had not bonded well and produced a planar shear right at the 30cm mark with minimal effort. No evidence of faceting just poor cohesion between the layers of wind loaded snow. Riding away and below the wind loaded on slopes at or below 30 degrees produced amazing skiing with no further signs of instability.

Quick report