One large whumpf at 2,000' near the snow pit.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Seattle Ridge
Rode up the common up-track to the weather station to work on the cameras and get another look at the mid-elevation snowpack.
Observer Comments
Weather
Overcast skies with light to moderate NE winds. Just breezy enough to make it feel cold along the ridgeline.
Temperatures near 20F.
No precip.
Snow surface
Soft settled powder. Around 6-8" of new snow from yesterday 2/8 that was lightly blown into soft drifts in places.
Could feel old tracks underneath.
Snowpack
We dug one pit at 2,000', E facing, 15 degree slope. Snow depth 165cm (~5.5 feet). Two different failure layers in two tests within the same pit:
ECTP 28, 80cm down on facets that were around 10cm below the NYE crust
ECTP 25, 55cm down on buried surface hoar/facets (thought to be the 1/27 layer). Surface hoar (.5-.8mm) was generally laid down in pit wall and difficult to see.
Clean and planar failure in both these test results.
These tests point to multiple weak layers in the snowpack that range from around 2-3' below the surface. They appear to take a fair amount of force to initiate a failure, but one a failure occurs it propagates across the entire column.
Snowpack at 2,000' on and E facing slope
Jr's Run just to the north of the weather station
Tincan seen from Seattle Ridge
Snowpit showing the New Year's eve crust with facets above and below