Elliot Lake Exploring

We went for a toodle around Barnes and Elliot lake today! We had the intention of once again observing surface conditions to see how the facets, surface hoar, and crust are doing during this extended high pressure. The day was a mix of sun and some cloud forming over ridgetops and peaks. Winds were calm, and the temperature rose to -3 at 1900m. Travel conditions were good from the Corbin staging due to the FSA's exceptional grooming! Firm and crusty travel exists off the grooming. The crust is breaking down to 1 finger resistance and is unsupportive in most areas. There is about 5 cm of new snow that has been redistributed by the wind and sits over 4-8 mm surface hoar. Where deposits of new snow reach 15 cm it is beginning to form a wind slab which is producing very easy planar failures on shovel shear and column tests. More evidence that any new snow on our current surface has the potential to produce avalanches, but for now challenging crusty travel remains the main hazard.