Observation: Chugach State Park

Location: Harp Mountain

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

We toured along the ridge of Harp Mountain to monitor the basal facets at higher elevations and to see how reactive other persistent weak layers are in the snowpack.

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

10:00 am- Scattered clouds, no wind, no precip
10:30 am- Scattered clouds, light breeze from the north, no precip
11:30 am- Scattered clouds, moderate wind from the north at ridgetop, no precip
1:30 pm- Scattered clouds, moderate wind with strong gusts at ridgetop, no precip

Snow surface

The snow surface along the ridge was wind-loaded sastrugi. Beneath the ridge through was a supportable wind crust with a couple of inches of light, low-density snow.

Snowpack

We dug four snowpits. Here is the summary of what we saw:

Location: Harp Mountain
Elevation: 3,300 feet
Aspect: North
Slope: 20 degrees
Test results: ECTX in three pits, and ECTN24 on the facets at the base of the snowpack. Two of the pits conducted PST tests on the basal facets- one result was PST 55/100 End and one result was PST 98/100 End

The Thanksgiving Crust was found in only 1 out of the 4 pits. The other pits had a thin layer of facets where the Thanksgiving crust used to be.

Poor structure, low propagation propensity, fair stability

Photos & Video
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