how much weight can a weak layer take before it collapses?

Quick report

Weather

cloudy, cold

Ride Type

alpineSlopes, cutBlocks, mellowSlopes

Stayed Away

steepSlopes

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

crusty, powder, windAffected

Weather

Avg Temp

-1

Max Temp

-1

Min Temp

-10

Wind Speed

windSpeedCalm

Blowing Snow

none

Sky Condition

overcast

Snowfall Rate

1

Wind Direction

N

New Snow24 Hours

0

Storm Start Date

2024-12-07

Storm Snow Amount

0

Temperature Trend

falling

Precipitation Type

snow

very light precip for about an hour today that fell a total of 0.5cm. other wise cloudy.

Snowpack

Depth

130

Obs Type

point

Site Aspect

E

Test Fracture

sudden

Site Elevation

2221

Test Initiation

veryEasy

Foot Penetration

25

Test Failure Depth

0

Site Elevation Band

alp

Surface Conditions

newSnow

Test Failure Layer Crystal Types

surfaceHoar

today was staff training for us and part of it was to gather snow observations and chase the reactivity of the surface hoar hidden below a rain crust down about 10-15cm in the Norns Range. We dug 2 pits (one at 2000m NE aspect and the other at 2240m on an E aspect) and both had the same very easy sudden collapse results. When we isolated the columns with the snow saw, the surface hoar layer did a sudden collapse of the weak layer. The question is, how much weight can this weak layer take before failing? We will be keeping an eye out on this possible developing problem as we get more snow and weight on top of it.