Core Lodge AST1

In Core for an AST1 field day, decent start to the year but still a very shallow snowpack. We dug a pit behind the Cabin and had 90 cm of snow at 1600 m elevation. Roughly 12 cm fresh snow from the recent storm hasn’t bonded well yet and was reacting in the easy to moderate range, but very soft. There’s a crust with Facets and possibly old surface hoar down 40 cm that was reacting in the Moderate to Hard range, but we saw no propagation in Extended Column tests. We did see a lot of wind drifting especially in the alpine zone of Terminator, both open scoured faces and large drifted hollows. The day was sunny and windy from the South West, with drifting snow up high. We observed some small Surface Hoar growth in sheltered treed areas. Still risking your A Arms out there, ride cautiously and practice your snow dances!