CAIC Observation Report

Snowpack

Average snowpack depth on these slopes was roughly 175cm, and consisted of surface hoar at the surface and a mixed bag of buried persistent weak layers beneath. A quick hasty pit revealed several buried surface hoar layer and two sun crusts in the upper mid-pack, as well as several layers of small and large facets in the lower mid-pack. Compression tests reacted to 4 of these layers with easy to moderate clean shears in the upper half of the snowpack, plus a harder clean shear down at the October/November interface. We saw no visible signs of recent avalanche activity, cracking, or collapsing. Conditions: Coverage was good, as was the skiing. Great powder skiing on the Northerlies, a supportable snowpack, and good fast riding conditions led us to stick to lower angle slopes