Steamboat & Flat Tops

Avalanche

Joe Messina ยท Dec 18, 2014

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Weather

Calm conditions, S-1, most of the tour. Clearing skies at the end of the day. About 2" new snow.

Snowpack

See pit profile. Very similar data was collected as the last ob submitted to you from Walton Peak. Poor strength due to facets growing around very hard ice layer. Structure could be worse with a denser slab. ECT test failed (ECTP13 SC)) and propagated below the ice layer when it was isolated in the column. ECT test failed but did not propagate when the ice layer was not isolated in the column (ECTN17). Not isolating the ice layer was done to simulate what is currently happening: it is not breaking under its current load. CT test failed above ice layer on isolation (SP). Our results (and other recent obs) seem to back up theory that the slab properties are what is keeping us out of bigger trouble.

Avalanche

Put in a ski cut in the Third Pitch area outside ski area. The slope released: about 14" crown, 50' wide, about 200' down the hill. Bed surface was the ice layer you've heard so much about. Weak layer is the interface between faceted crystals and the 1-2 cm Thanksgiving thick ice layer.