Took a quick trip north of the ski hill boundary today. The flat prairie is
strongly wind affected. There was one large whumpf in flat terrain. I dug a
pit in a windloaded N aspect at 1650 m. The height of snow is from 160 to 210
cm in somewhat protected areas. The pit showed a fairly hard pack, with mostly
pencil hard snow and a few one finger layers in there. A buried surface hoar
layer is down 80 cm and reacts with sudden planar failures. A crust with
facets below is 110 cm down and reacts with sudden planar failures to shear
tests. I saw no natural avalanches, but the visibility was poor.
--
Christoph Dietzfelbinger, Mountain Guide
Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222 Smithers B.C. Canada V0J 2N0
info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.bearmountaineering.ca
tel. 250-847-3351 fax 250-847-2854
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