Grizzly Shoulder AST2

Quick report

Weather

warm, foggy, cloudy

Ride Type

openTrees

Stayed Away

steepSlopes, alpineSlopes

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

heavy, powder, crusty

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSound

AST2 day up grizzly shoulder. Heard numerous whumphs with shooting cracks on the up track. We performed various column tests and extended column tests at 2100m on a SW aspect with the following results. A few of the column tests failed while isolating (CTV) and a few were CTE 4 or 5, sudden planar. Failure occurring on the Dec.1 SH failing at 80-90cm depth. Extended column tests were ECTP 27 and the second didn’t fail until a few extra hits past 30 with a result of ECPT 34. Both did fail on the Dec.1 SH at similar depth as the CT with a planar propagation across the column. Ski pen was about 20cm at the top elevation and boot pen around 50-60cm with a breakable crust. Riding was fairly good up top but the bottom half below ~1700m was heavy and still lots of hazards lurking in the trees. A few smaller avalanches observed in the grizzly path but nothing has ran to the bottom.