Quick report
I went out looking for wind slabs but found a reactive layer of buried surface hoar instead. I dug a pit on a forested E facing slope which in retrospect was sheltered from Wednesday's wind event. I did find occasional wind crusts in open areas but no cracking or collapsing. I suspect that less sheltered areas up high may still have reactive wind slabs. Instead, I found a layer of 2-4mm surface hoar crystals that failed at ECTP13. I only dug one pit, so it's hard to say how widespread the problem is. But be on the lookout for buried surface hoar on sheltered aspects in the Rattlesnake. The basal facets from the ground to 40 cm high are isothermal and healing nicely. They did not react in my test. Surprisingly, I found a reactive surface hoar layer at 58cm.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 36
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
Warm. The nearby Stuart Mountain Snotel site shows that there was no overnight freeze the night of Dec. 20th - Dec 21st. About 36 degrees F while I was digging.