Snowpit Tests in Crystal Bowl

Crystal Bowl Obs 

Dug to 50cm to look at upper snowpack, new snow and bonding.

Site location ENE aspect, 10050' elev, 32 deg. slope, cross loaded mid-slope feature

HS 105cm. 20cm of new storm snow from 1221 in this location, bonded well to the previous 10cm P+ hard wind slab/wind board. Found buried near surface facets directly underneath this hard layer, and had several results of interest at this interface down 30cm. Results ranged from CTV on saw cut and ECTP19, to CT11 farther way from the cross loaded feature, as the height of new storm snow decreased. Probed for this layer elsewhere and found similar depths (15-40cm)

Take-away in this location was that the depth of this newly formed windslab is highly variable, and that energy in this weak layer is likely not enough to propage across a slope, but confined to specific and isolated terrain features it is a layer to be cautious around.