What better a day to grab that powder loving guy or gal and take them out to EV to get the love juices flowing?  The overcast to broken skies with S-1 light snowfall and blending from light to calm winds ((L) 1-16 mph) didn’t deter the most discerning of inamorata/inamorato from blazing up the skin track to the top of Benchie and dropping in to profess their passion for the goods with some fine pow turns and  periodic wails of pleasure and ecstasy.  On the “Danger Rose” (oooh that’s sexy) one could profess that the “dangerous love” was at least considerable on the NW-S facing aspects…  Those not blinded by the considerable chance at some likely “rough lovin” could get their moderately risky business done on the W & SW facing slopes.  Tracks abound and no shame (recent debaucherous activity) in sight… the powder lovers were painting their affection all over the big white fluffy canvass with big S-Turns abound.  Only a few dysfunctional examples of tracks seen hitting the top drops off Old Man’s, traversing skier right to the opposite cliffs on the far south side then back across to the northern cliffs two-thirds the way down the open +35 degree avg. aspect.  Not sure that relationship is really going to last, but one could conjecture that love makes some behave in some very incredibly peculiar ways.

Linked up with Marty, the legendary wing-man himself, to not only get our powder fix of the day, but to also put a cross hair on our beloved snowpack and shoot it straight in the heart.  We sought to identify a deadly problem that has been plaguing some unfortunate riders recently.  We’ve all seen the recent reports of the very gruesome reciprocation that the star-crossed snowpack has taken out on members of the BC riding community.  The trend of doom has been below treeline in some very precarious terrain traps and that is where some more careful examination is due.  From the “hasty” and not so hasty test pits of the season, it’s about lovin time we drop some SWAG on this very problem.  Freshly and stalely outfitted with the latest in snow-nerd standards, we figured it’s about time to throw down and get neck deep in the business.  What is the problem that we are dealing with?  In short, deep persistent weak layers releasing the majority of the top of the snow pack on an interface between the buried depth hoar and the upper “cake” layer of the good stuff.  So let the intricate romance with our naughty snowpack begin…  (this would be way more bad-ass with snowpilot, but whatever).

2/14/2012 @ 2:30pm on Forgotten Trees with an elev. 10,200-10,400 (estimated from topo).

Small clearing in trees on N-facing Aspect below treeline of 30 degrees. 

Sky:  Fluctuating from broken to overcast.  Wind:  Calm to Light.  Temp Air:  -6.5 deg C.  Precip:  Very Light (S-1).

Boot Pen:  Balls Deep, Yeah, that’s what she said…  Type:  Profile Pit.  Temp Surface @ 150cm:  -6.5 deg. C

No Red Flags besides the low-moderate obvious wind loading of leeward aspects.

<150    DF’s    (decomp & frag. precip particles)  1.5mm          F+              -6.5 deg. C       

140    DF’s    (decomposing & frag. precip part.)  1.5mm          F+              -6.0 deg. C

130    DF’s    (decomposing & frag. precip part.)  1.5mm          F                 -6.0 deg. C 

120    FCsf    (near surface faceted particles)      1-2mm          F                -5.5 deg. C

110    FCxr    (Rounding Faceted Particles)         1.0mm          F                 -5.0 deg. C

100    RG’s    (Rounded Grains)                               0.5-1.0mm   F                 -4.5 deg. C

90    RG’s      (Rounded Grains)                               1.0mm          <95cm 4F  -4.0 deg. C 

80    RG’s      (Rounded Grains)                               1.0mm          4F               -3.5 deg. C

70    RG’s      (Rounded Grains)                                1.0mm         4F                -3.0 deg. C

60    DH        (Depth Hoar)                                         3.0mm         <60cm F+   -2.5 deg. C

50    DH        (Depth Hoar)                                          3.0mm          F+                -2.0 deg. C

40    DH        (Depth Hoar)                                          3.0mm          F+                -2.0 deg. C

30    DH        (Depth Hoar)                                          3.0mm          F+                -1.5 deg. C

20    DH        (Depth Hoar)                                          3.0mm          F+                -1.0 deg. C

10    DH        (Depth Hoar)                                          3.0mm          F+                -1.0 deg. C 

0     Ground

Did a very nice ECT (Extended Column Test) 30cm deep X 90cm wide X to 120cm deep from surface, back cut out.

Results yielded:  ECT23Q3(PC)… the whole 150cm down to 60cm collapsed on the interface (if you can remember the December surface hoar produced by endless clear days and cold clear nights) ~60-63cm is where the ECT collapsed but did not shear.  This indicated a collapse and even propagation, but no sudden planar or resistant planar shear @ 30 deg.  So that would put us at ECTP23.    Read from that what you will… in leymans’ that’s a deep persistent weak layer that will propagate distances, collapse and cause instability in the snowpack, hence, most aspects on the CAIC Rose being rated as considerable.  Watch out for higher angle slopes that will cause the upper layer to collapse as well as shear and slide. 

That’s all the snow-geek and SWAGger I got for ya!  hopefully you were suave and savvy enough to get your significant other’s adrenaline and love potion pumping with you’re superior shredability out in EV today.  If you didn’t here’s some snow porn to help you thru tomorrow…   but remember, never trust a hoar, no matter how deep you bury it (Whammy!).