Professional Observation

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Skied Elderberry Canyon off the ridge today. We chose to descend a more mellow line and started our descent a few hundred feet north of the top out of the classic Elderberry route on an ENE facing panel. 6- 12 inches of soft and creamy wind deposited snow  made for excellent skiing. At 11400′ I made slight aspect change to the skiers right. Suddenly I became aware of the snow breaking all around me and several meters above me. I was able to ski out and get to the ridge. I did several hand shear tests on my way up and observed that the blocks pulled out with easy to moderate force on facets on the underside of the new snow deposited by SW winds February 4/5. This faceted snow was laying on a thin 2 cm pre-storm wind crust. I also did several kick tests but I never saw any propagation.

This slab behaved more like a persistent slab. It broke above me and propagated all around me. But it was slow enough to give me time to ski out.

D 1.5 

Soft Slab, skier triggered. Crown depth ranged from 20cm to 40 cm.

Snow Stability