CAIC Observation Report

Snowpack

I did some compression test on an East aspect near the summit of Marble Peak at around 11,000ft. Results: I had and easy failure CT1 with a Q1 or Q2 shear quality in the upper snowpack. Most likely the interface between the new snow from the day before and the older snow. The rest of the collum did not fail. The next test I did yielded no failure, but the top layer, fist hardness, simply dissolved. The depth of the snow where I dug was surprisingly well over a meter. I did not notice any faceting near the base, which was surprising. There was a crust layer about 60cm up from the base, but it did not produce failure. The snowpack overall seemed quite variable, and near the ridgetop it I noticed a 5cm crust. I also notice a bit of cracking off of ski tracks in the main Marble bowl (11,000ft east facing). Lower down there was not enough snow to produce slabs. Thanks for the forecasts,