Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

At 7320' on a west facing slope just north of Burgundy Col we noticed ~12" cohesive slabs shearing at our kick turns. Isolating a shallow column with ski poles revealed further shearing on a weak layer. We stopped to dig a ~3-4' deep pit. The top few inches was nice fluff, but as it got deeper it got more consolidated. We could feel potential shear planes with our fingers. 5 wrist, 5 elbow, 5 shoulder hits and no reactivity. First hard hit and the column sheared at both 12" and 15". The lower layer had granular sugar snow. We didn't have the tools to gather more data.

While we wanted to hit the ridge, after seeing the ski pole column shear we decided to turn around. The pit was more for curiosity. We chose the west facing slope in spite of the sun because it was windward and we saw a lot of wind transport on the ridge tops. There was zero reactivity on the descent - down low it got pretty heavy.