Little Galetea

Did an intro day for a friend up to Chester then Little Galetea. Planned to just do some very short turns and some learning. Dug a few pits and got results on crust / facet layers ~40cm down on all 3 tests. Wind slab evident in 2 but didn’t react. Low angle protected slope (12-15 degrees) we tested but still gave an idea of some instabilities in the shallow faceted snowpack

Did 3 compression tests on low angle SE slope for learning purposes (12-15 degree slope only) All 3 failed on first shoulder hit, sudden planar (didn’t slide off as low angle slope but likely would have if steeper) on the lower crust or upper crust Snowpack was 0-20cm facets 20-22cm crust 22-30cm facets 30-32cm crust 32-35/40cm crust Either 40-60cm more recent storm snow settling or 40-42/45cm wind slab then more recent storm snow settling Visible cornice failures on upper ridges too Additional sluffing and loose dry on N-NW aspects of Chester also