Observation: Summit

Location: Colorado

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Traveled with the AAS Level 1 students up Colorado. We were practicing basic field observations and analyzing snowpit data. What a beautiful day!

Red Flags
Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.
Observer Comments

No obvious signs of instability since the last weather event

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Broken skies that were clearing by late afternoon. Wind was calm, no signs of overnight winds.

Snow surface

4-6" dry fresh snow over the past few days. More as we skinned higher. Crust below fresh snow was thin.

Snowpack

We had the pleasure of digging several pits to correlate data. Pit depths averaged 115cm. We were on at 1900', on an east aspect, 24degree slope. Hardness tests showed an upside down snowpack structure. CT16, 23, and 27 down 30cm on the buried surface hoar. ECT results varied. Mostly ECTN low 20's on the buried surface hoar and one ECTP just above the basal facets layer down 90cm. Overall the buried surface hoar did not propagate but when it was stressed it did fail suddenly in CT tests.