Monday, November 29, 2010

Nov. 29 Hilda Ridge again

Today @ Hilda Ridge...very noteworthy going on's.



35 degree NE slope @1040 am -18c scattered cloud

lee convex test slope open

95cm HS at test site pit dug in "start zone" just under roll beneath expected break over

Extended column propogation test and layers as follows



New surface hoar on top widespread to above treeline where observations were ended (high point) hoar size approx 2-4mm depending where



-------------95cm surface



1 finger hard slab



------------76cm possible burried surface hoar layer Q1 clean sudden shear across entire block ECTV on back cut



4F slab



------------65cm



fist facetted / facetting snow



------------30cm top of rain crust Q2 shear clean across entire block sudden failure on ECT1 on rain crust



fist facets



_______ground



Tested by digging extended column pit, the upper layer @ 76cm top slab fell off on the back cut clean across the block sudden planar Q1, I then placed shovel on side and on the very first easy tap from wrist the rest of the snow down to the rain crust collapsed and fell off all the way clean across the block with a slight jump upward through the mashy facetts Q2.



We cut the slope 2x and both times where able to easily trigger off the surface slab....very touchy. Cracking, propogating.

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Also on the SW aspect the snowpack was nothing more than 20-50cm's (variable depth) of facetts. Where the pack was closer to 20cm's the facetts were fucking HUGE all the way through. No support at all. Higher up in the open pads there was a solar crust forming up that was behaving like a slab as it's sitting on nothing more than sugar shit.



Alpine was garbage and nothing more than a mix of wind fuck and slab on facetts. Repeated a quick test just above treeline in a more supportive wind compressed spot on a breakover convex slope, not as abrupt of a convexity with some "supportive" wind fuck. ECT22 but it went clean at Q1 sudden planar....didn't bother recording this one.

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