Observation: Summit

Location: Manitoba

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Toured up to 3700′ on Manitoba. Glide cracks are continuing to grow in Summit Lake area, there were a few significant cornice falls and some large storm or post storm avalanches observed from the road.
We found buried surface hoar again which seems to be the theme of the winter in Summit Lake. These layers will be important to track if they receive a significant load.

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

Clear in the morning and partly cloudy/overcast in the afternoon
Temperatures were in the mid 20Fs
Winds were light and Northerly

Snow surface

1200'-1500' rain crust with surface hoar
1500-2000' rain crust with 1-4" of loose faceting snow with surface hoar (3-4mm)
2000'-2400' the rain crust gradually disappears with elevation, 2-6" settled snow that is faceting with surface hoar on top
2400'-3700' 2-6" settled snow that is faceting with surface hoar on top. This is on stiffer snow below. Along the ridge there are variety of surfaces, wind crust, wind slab and rime crust with no surface hoar.

Snowpack

We dug two pits and found buried surface hoar in both. Both locations were protected by terrain features.
Pit # 1 @ 2500', W aspect, 23 degrees HS= 245, Pit HS= 115. BSH found at 55 cm below the surface (layer 1). CT 15 RP x 2. 70 cm below the surface (layer 2) CT 24 RP, CT 28 RP. ECTX for both with the caveat that the upper layer propagated with a few extra hard hits after.

Pit # 2 @ 2900', SW, aspect, 20 degree slope, HS=285. Pit HS= 100. Found BSH @ 65 cm. ECTX with 30 taps and then progressive propagation with 6 extra hard hits. CT 23 RP

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