No collapsing or whumphing observed. No shooting cracks observed. No recent avalanches were observed from our location- however visibility was poor, was unable to see ridge tops to look for wind flagging at upper elevations.
Observation: Hatcher Pass
Location: Lower President's
Standard up track up Presidents to look for buried near surface facets and buried drizzle crusts.
Observer Comments
Weather
Overcast, S-1, light wind, 16 F @ 11:45 am
Overcast, S-1, light wind, 15 F @ 12:18 pm
Overcast, S-1, light wind, 17 F @ 12:33 pm
Snow surface
Snow surface was smooth, not loaded. There was a few inches of low density snow and wind transport.
Snowpack
We did multiple ski pole probing test to find buried drizzle crusts. There was a lot of spatial variability within the snow pack and we could not consistently find buried crust layers on our tour.
Snow height on skin track at 2933' was ~150 cm
Snow height on skin track at 2,576' was ~100 cm
We found an older small slab released on a a roll over feature close to the skin track (at ~2578') on our way up. We conducted two ECTs test right next to the small slab release to look for near surface facets and to see how reactive the layer was that failed on the roll over feature. Our test results were ECTN 23 cm from the snow surface on the interface between the decomposing snow and facets.
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