Burstall Pass - better than expected, considering...
Quick reportintothineyre · Dec 11, 2023 · Field
Quick report
- Weather
- cloudy, windy
- Ride Type
- denseTrees, mellowSlopes, openTrees
- Stayed Away
- alpineSlopes, steepSlopes
- Riding Quality
- ok
- Snow Conditions
- powder, windAffected
Went out with very low expectations and indeed saw much sign of wind scouring anywhere wind exposed and a below normal thin snowpack. Snow cover on main access trail is decent enough though. Uphill section in forest up to meadows is thin and a bit scrapped. Improved snow depth above 2100 m (relatively). ATL / 2300 m snow was very wind affected and slabby, so did not bother going to the pass. Surprisingly decent enough powder in sheltered trees in a narrow elevation band around 2200 m +/-. In addition to CT results, a ski cut on a short steep convex roll at ~2150m elevation did shear off the top ~25-30 cm consolidated snow layer down to the underlying supportive crust.
Weather
- Avg Temp
- -7
- Max Temp
- -7
- Min Temp
- -12
- Wind Speed
- windSpeedLight
- Blowing Snow
- light
- Sky Condition
- overcast
- Wind Direction
- SW
- Storm Start Date
- 2023-12-07
- Temperature Trend
- rising
- Precipitation Type
- none
SW winds were strong in the morning but moderated around mid-day. Some low cloud with reduced visibility (~1 km) near the pass.
Snowpack
- Depth
- 88
- Obs Type
- point
- Site Aspect
- NE
- Site Elevation
- 2260
- Test Initiation
- moderate
- Cracking Observed
- 1
- Site Elevation Band
- btl
- Surface Conditions
- newSnow
- Test Failure Layer Crystal Types
- facets
Fist down to 80 cm 4F to 55 cm K to 51 cm 1F to 48 cm 2 x 1 cm ice crust layers (K) to 41 cm with 3 cm 1F in between 1F to 21 cm 4F to ground 1st test column: CTM 2 resistant @ 75 cm CTM 10 SC on bottom facets (<20 cm) 2nd test column: CTE 10 at 75 cm CTM 2 SC on bottom facets (<20 cm)