Smith; Soft Snow, Soup and Snow Study

We braved the cold and headed to Elkford. In sheltered areas we found a mostly “right side up” snowpack with recent soft snow at the top, and progressively firmer layers in the mid pack. We saw no recent (within last 72 hrs) avalanches, and had no snowpack test results. We have been looking, but just haven’t been finding the the dangerous surface hoar layer that has plagued the neighbouring Lizard Range/Flathead region. Variable wind has moved the recent soft snow into slabs in exposed terrain. Slopes sheltered from wind should provide good quality riding. We continue to monitor the lower crust layers that formed in November and December. In our profile today we found 60 cm of soft snow over a consolidated mid pack. The Dec crust was almost completly broken down and 110 cm down and the Nov Crust was a little more entact with facets above it. We had no test results in any of our tests. ECTX (extended column test), CTN (compression test) X2, DTN (deep tap test)