Pit study from Feburary 3, 2012.
We've all been reading about how sketchy the Colorado snow pack is.
So, Scott and I decided to do a reconnaissance mission up into Coon Hill, on Loveland Pass. This is the same area from my previous post from January's snow study.
In the same spot we dug our pit from January we found it to be very sturdy. (30 degrees above treeline, East Facing) It looks like the wind did a lot here because last month it the layers were numerous and very unstable. This was a little strange to us, but we know that this area is still one of those... it's mostly fine, until it slides all the way to the ground.
What was not fine was our second pit. This pit was at 30 degrees at treeline on an East facing slope. The snow was soft here, not wind buffeted. Just stepping off our skis to dig the pit sent off a "womph" and cracks. It was about 4 feet to the ground and went on the third hit from an elbow swing. The part that broke off was nearly three feet and slid on top of what I now call diamonds. Because when you inspect it in your hands, it looks like Tom Shane from Shane Co dumped a bag of loose diamonds into your glove. There are many unstable layers below this whose granulars get larger, closer to the ground.
erinyoungskiing.blogspot.com
lostinerinland.blogspot.com
We've all been reading about how sketchy the Colorado snow pack is.
So, Scott and I decided to do a reconnaissance mission up into Coon Hill, on Loveland Pass. This is the same area from my previous post from January's snow study.
In the same spot we dug our pit from January we found it to be very sturdy. (30 degrees above treeline, East Facing) It looks like the wind did a lot here because last month it the layers were numerous and very unstable. This was a little strange to us, but we know that this area is still one of those... it's mostly fine, until it slides all the way to the ground.
What was not fine was our second pit. This pit was at 30 degrees at treeline on an East facing slope. The snow was soft here, not wind buffeted. Just stepping off our skis to dig the pit sent off a "womph" and cracks. It was about 4 feet to the ground and went on the third hit from an elbow swing. The part that broke off was nearly three feet and slid on top of what I now call diamonds. Because when you inspect it in your hands, it looks like Tom Shane from Shane Co dumped a bag of loose diamonds into your glove. There are many unstable layers below this whose granulars get larger, closer to the ground.
erinyoungskiing.blogspot.com
lostinerinland.blogspot.com
