Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 11/24/2019
Name: Sam Roberts
Subject: Field Report 11/24/19
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: 12068
Avalanches: None
Weather: Clear skies with no wind, temperature floating around 1-2 degrees C.
Snowpack: We dug a pit within a wind loaded bowl on Mount Baldy’s South side on an E-NE aspect above tree line at 12,068′. The entire bowl we were in was extremely cross loaded and wind affected. Snow was 65cm total in depth with 3 distinct layers. The large basal layer was the late October snow storm and has developed into 35cm of fist hard 1-2mm facets topped by a 1-2mm crust that has formed a very slippery bed surface. We then found 10cm of 4 finger hard rounded grains without a definitive cap to it. The top 20cm of the snow pack was a layer of fist hard new snow. This top layer hard been wind affected and was a relatively cohesive slab. We performed both a column test and an extended column test on the snow and the results were not promising. The CT resulted in CTE with failure occurring at the crust that is capping the basal facet layer. The ECT resulted in ECTN 6 SC Q1 with the overlying new snow sliding very easily on the late October crust.
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