Good conditions at Black Prince

Snowpack

finbarrtimbers · Jan 22, 2022 · Spray - KLakes

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Quick report

Weather
windy, warm
Ride Type
mellowSlopes, openTrees, alpineSlopes
Riding Quality
good
Snow Conditions
powder, crusty

Location is proximate- the app crashed and lost the exact location. At the tree line of Black Prince. Conditions were pretty stable overall. Skiing was good below the tree line but lots of wind crust above the tree line. Some minor sun crust forming in exposed areas.

Weather

Wind Speed
windSpeedStrong
Blowing Snow
light
Sky Condition
fewClouds
Wind Direction
SE
New Snow24 Hours
0
Temperature Trend
rising
Precipitation Type
none
Precipitation24 Hours
0

Strong winds at the tree line. Lots of signs of wind scouring the snow. A lot of wind crusts at the tree line. Lower levels were not affected by the wind but had some thin solar crusts.

Snowpack

Depth
204
Obs Type
point
Site Aspect
E
Test Fracture
resistant
Site Elevation
2295
Ski Penetration
2
Test Initiation
hard
Foot Penetration
15
Test Failure Depth
32
Site Elevation Band
tln
Surface Conditions
crust
Test Failure Layer Crystal Types
crust

Did a compression test. After 24 hits, the wind crust gave way at a depth of 32cm. Failure was indistinct, no planar shear. Couldn’t get any other failures, even after a number of hard whacks after following the typical 10/10/10 methodology. Large well bonded layer beneath the wind crust up to a depth of approximately 100cm. Couldn’t find obvious signs of the weak layer, even digging at a depth of 120cm. We dug a pit lower down (approximately 2100m elevation), and easily found the deep persistent weak layer there. Snow seemed much more stable at the higher elevation.