Observation: Other Regions

Location: Main Bowl/Seattle Ridge

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

This snowpit is about 3 feet deep on top of tundra. It looks
like it should be unstable; so, it might have some potential in
the future. However, my stability tests showed good stability.
I could not get those facets or the buried surface hoar to fail
until I really hammered on my shovel. Lisa found similar
results. My main concern with this pit is a crust that I found
on top of the October facets with surface hoar sitting on top.
That is a very bad combination, but it still did not fail
easily. It just goes to show you that snowpit data is only one
small part of the entire avalanche puzzle. I think a human could
trigger this type of snowpack in the right place at the right
time. Rocky areas and shallow snowpacks are the most likely
trigger point. Stay away from complex terrain.