Lost Valley (Morfee)

Quick report

tj2hutch · Feb 27, 2017 · Pine Pass

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Quick report

Weather
sunny
Ride Type
alpineSlopes, mellowSlopes, openTrees
Stayed Away
convexSlopes, steepSlopes
Riding Quality
Good
Snow Conditions
windAffected, powder

Today we rode into the Lost Valley near Morfee, to visit the site of the slide that occurred on Feb. 18. We dug a pit adjacent to the slide, and found the December facet layer down 108 cm. It reacted in the moderate range (CTM 17). We also conducted a propagation saw test on the same layer that reacted through to the end of the column after cutting in 45 cm. The slide itself was a size 2 that propagated at least 50m across a wind loaded slope, with an average depth of about 90 cm. This was obviously proof that the persistent weak layer is still in range of a trigger, and could remain that way without a significant amount of new snow.