Grassy Hut

Quick report

Weather

foggy, cloudy

Ride Type

mellowSlopes, denseTrees, openTrees, alpineSlopes

Stayed Away

steepSlopes, convexSlopes

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

deepPowder, powder

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSound

Spent 2 nights at the grassy hut. Skinned in Feb 19, moderate to heavy snowfall the entire day. Spent the day Feb 20 riding mellow treed slopes around the hut. We decided to be conservative based on our field observations of small shooting cracks, new loading the previous day, easy column test results, and the persistent slab problem. We found the snowpack to be more reactive on steep open slopes at treeline than in the alpine, possibly due to warming at lower elevations. Lots of powdery fun snowboarding and skiing! Another great reading week at the Grassy Hut!

Weather

Max Temp

-4

Wind Speed

windSpeedLight

Blowing Snow

none

Sky Condition

fog

Temperature Trend

steady

Snowpack

Depth

180

Obs Type

summary

Site Aspect

SW

Test Fracture

sudden

Ski Penetration

15

Test Initiation

easy

Foot Penetration

40

Cracking Observed

1

Test Failure Depth

20

Site Elevation Band

tln

Surface Conditions

newSnow

Test Failure Layer Crystal Types

stormSnow, crust

Stopped to dig pits as a group, results from all 3 snowpits were easy failure on storm snow 20cm down. Moderate failure on persistent slab layer 40 cm down (sudden pop and slide forward). We were also experiencing small shooting cracks when stepping off the skin track on steep slopes. Chose a more conservative line to avoid steep, open, convex slopes. Dug another pit at higher elevation 2050 meters, similar south aspect. No results from column test at this elevation.