Around 25° F, calm wind, overcast.
Observation: Summit
Location: Manitoba
Typical route. Just enough snow to skin the mining road. Rain crust under 10-15 cm new snow below about 2800 ft. Glide avalanches were abundant on steep terrain throughout the Summit area on all aspects, but no signs of them on the W face of Manitoba that people usually ski.
Weather
Snow surface
New snow over crust up to 2800 ft then new snow over settled powder
Snowpack
Dug 3 pits:
@2300 ft, SW aspect, HS 100cm:
Snow was quite saturated w moisture below upper crust layer.
SST - hard effort at 56cm, an old crust layer, pre halloween storm
CT14 at 56 cm RP
ECTN
#1 @3300ft W aspect HS 180:
Very right-side up snowpack - only dug pits down 100cm, various layers throughout the upper snowpack sheared when pulled on from behind with easy/moderate force but were not reactive in CT/ECT tests.
SST easy/moderate force at 160cm - didn’t have hand lens but looked like perhaps some small buried surface hoar
CT14 at 170cm SP - new snow
ECTN
Pit # 2: HS 190cm
CT3 at 180cm (new snow)
ECTN
Snow profile of pit at 2300 ft. Notice multiple crusts.
Snow profile of pit at 3300ft
Abundant glide slides off Silvertip ridge, this is the S aspect
At 3300ft the upper 20cm of snow sheared pretty easily. No hand lens but looked like maybe some small buried surface hoar crystals