Tunnel Creek

Went out for a quick peek up tunnel. Snow coverage from base of car park. Didn’t ski anything because of the recent advisory and slides in MINs of the area. Dug a pit SSE facing. Winds really picked up around 2-3pm. Blowing NE and snow off the tops of the peaks. HS 160 15cm powder on a crust (melt freeze/rain?) from dec 21st storm. Crust was thin, about 10-15mm with soft snow beneath. Made skiing tough. Early Dec crust at 95cm. 21 Dec crust was interesting, we mucked around and on our first column test the 15cm of powder slid with the crust on the soft snow beneath. Did another column test and didn’t notice the same failure of the 21 Dec crust. Snowpack was stable throughout the test. Tried to make early Dec crust failed but didn’t move during test. Slammed both hands on the shovel (call it tap 45) and it failed. Noticeable facets still there around the early dec crust. Tried to see how the 21 Dec crust was reacting. Cut a big square into the crust to isolate it. When we put weight onto the area, the crust and powder above would slide very easily - interesting observation. Will be something we keep an eye on when it dumps again.

Wind picked up throughout the day. Once we reached tunnel @3pm big gusts observed on the peaks blowing snow. Was very cold especially in the gully. Clear day and amazing sunset.

As mentioned in earlier comment crust at 15cm. When we isolated and test it slid very easy on the soft snow beneath. Early Dec crust was hard to trigger. Will be a sleeping giant.