Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Sky clear, temp. 37 F, wind light variable/westerly flow, E aspect, elevation 6300, ski penetration 10-15cm, a pit revealed a thin surface crust followed by 110cm of mostly right side snow. Several discontinuities were revealed, in a shovel shear test. The Valentines crust was well defined. A column test showed several weak layer in the top 20 cm, failing on 3, 5 and 7. A sudden planer failure showed at 17, 70cm. The snow was very dependent on aspect, cold un consolidated in the most sun protected areas, sun baked mush on the sun exposed areas. We elected to avoid large un supported sloped. A un supported slope failed, but didn’t displace with a ski test. Snow appeared more reactive than anticipated, in cold sun protected areas.