Date of Observation: 12/21/2015
Name: Zach Guy, Evan Ross
Aspect: North, South East, South
Elevation: Near/Below treeline
Avalanches: Observed one large collapse at ridgeline on a flat slope.
Weather: Light to moderate snowfall through the day. Moderate west to northwest winds at ridgetop. Overcast.
Snowpack: About 6″ of new storm snow. Probing on northerly aspects, found the snowpack ranged from 80 cm to 140 cm. Structure was quite variable. Some slopes held a very soft snowpack throughout, fist hardness. Other slopes held stronger midpack, with basal weak layers. On southerly aspects, the snowpack was shallower, <80 cm. There was a very thin meltfreeze crust below today’s new snow, and a thicker meltfreeze crust near the bottom (12/11 MFcr), about 50 cm deep. One pit found no facets above this crust, and decent bonding, ECTN-15 50 cm down on that crust. Another pit we found a fist hard facet layer above the crust. The 12/11 crust was thick and on the ground in places, in others, its thin with facet layers below or a crust/facet/crust combo below.