Chester Lake Treeline
Snowpacklindslangs · Feb 8, 2020 · Spray - KLakes
Quick report
- Weather
- stormy, sunny
- Ride Type
- mellowSlopes, denseTrees, sunnySlopes
- Stayed Away
- steepSlopes, alpineSlopes
- Riding Quality
- good
- Snow Conditions
- powder
Goal was a mellow day to make snowpack observations. Skied down our skin tracks, had a blast. Saw no avalanche activity in the valley and saw no others skiing.
Weather
- Avg Temp
- -10
- Wind Speed
- windSpeedLight
- Blowing Snow
- none
- Wind Direction
- E
- Precipitation Type
- snow
Slightly snowy/low vis in the morning, by 1pm skies had cleared, clouds lifted and it was calm.
Snowpack
- Depth
- 120
- Obs Type
- point
- Site Aspect
- W
- Test Fracture
- unevenBreak
- Site Elevation
- 2331
- Ski Penetration
- 20
- Test Initiation
- moderate
- Site Elevation Band
- tln
- Surface Conditions
- newSnow
We dug the pit at treeline on a small roll terrain feature (West-facing, slope angle 38 degrees). No wind slab obvious, only minor loose dry particle movement. Top 15-20cm dry powder from recent snowfall. Below was well bonded storm snow to around 110cm. No rain or sun crust present at this elevation. Bottom 30cm depth hoar faceting. Compression Test - Collapse on Moderate 15 (CTM15), fracture was within the 70-80cm depth range, non planar. Continued test, no other failures. Shovel Sheer (accidental test) - As we were attempting to isolate a column for the compression test using a shovel from behind, a sudden 'pop' (planar failure) at a storm snow interface of 60cm. Rutschblock Test - No failures as result of test (RB7). After test was complete, skier continued to jump on isolated block, with no failures.