Date of Observation: 02/14/2016
Name: Geoff Unger & Chris Pruden
Aspect: All aspects
Elevation: 9400-11000
Avalanches:
Weather: High pressure with lots of solar on Friday. Cloud cover moved in midday Saturday and it snowed lightly on Sunday. Light increased to Moderate winds as the little disturbance arrived on Sunday.
Snowpack: On Friday 2/12 we toured in the road and did beacon drills. Of note was how slight changes in aspect changed the character of the snow dramatically. All but the most sheltered terrain has developed a crust. Just touring up the road it is easy to see the widespread natural activity that happened as a result of the 2/2 Storm event with slabs running up to D2-D2.5 over the past 10 days
Saturday 2/13 We toured up Copper Creek to get snow profile information. We dug on a WEST aspect and had mixed column test results. Even on a relatively sheltered West the crest had formed to make skiing less than desirable. Link to snow profile below.
Sunday 2/14 We toured up to the Snodgrass-Gothic Saddle. There was still good snow available for skiing on NE, but as soon as we trended E even the slightest bit the dreaded crust appeared.
Compression Tests revealed Buried Surface Hoar down approx. 39 cm on hard results on a NE aspect
CT 26 SP down 37 V 2-3mm / .5-1mm
CT 16 SC down 39 V 2-3mm / .5-1mm
It is possible the first result was also a collapse, but had the appearance of a planar fracture where the second result was a clear drop of the column.