Observation Date: 03/03/2018

Route/Location:
Up to Glen lake, two runs in the bowls above the lakes, then down the big avalanche path west of the lake cirque into Big Creek and out.

Weather:

Wind:

New Snow: 0-3″

Avalanche Activity:
We didn’t see any recent avalanche activity, and snow surfaces felt settled and well bonded at all aspects and elevations. We did, however, dig a pit at 8,000 on a Northeast aspect, 28 degree slope, moderately wind loaded to assess general stability. We only dug down 90 cm. We had failures in Friday’s snow (ECTN 5, 10 cm), but the layer of concern was an interface 40cm down (ECTN 21 and CT 18 Q1). The interface had a thin layer of low density snow sandwiched between two hard slab surfaces. While it did not propagate across an ECT, it sheared cleanly with moderate energy. Pit results were uncertain enough to keep us off the steepest windloaded aspects. Since the layer was not obviously faceted, it will presumably heal up quickly.

Other Comments:

Observer: Brian Story