Observation Date: 02/08/2015

Route/Location:
Five Valley Backcountry Ski Patrol members toured to 6300′ in Crystal Amphitheater. Protected north aspects above 6000′ are skiing well, with up to 20 cm of new soft snow. Sunny aspects are wet and heavy.

Weather:
Warm and partly sunny, ~50% cloud cover.

Wind:
Calm.

New Snow: No New Snow

Avalanche Activity:
No observed recent avalanche activity. Saw one substantial old wet slide, likely from warm weather last week.

Other Comments:
We found up to 20 cm of new snow above 6000′. Storm snow was fairly well bonded to layers underneath.

Dug a pit on a 34 degree N slope at 6200′. Snow depth 205 cm. ECT results were encouraging… ECTN27 Q3 on a layer 40 cm below surface. New storm snow failed at CT3 in two successive compression tests, but did not react in our ECT.

Check out the blog post at www.fvbsp.org/blog

Observer: Donny Perret