Observation type
Snowpack

Observer
Anonymous

Keep me anonymous if published
yes

Location (general area)
Kratka Ridge

Latitude

Longitude

Date (yyyymmdd)
20191224

Time
15:00

Road conditions to area

Temperature
28F

Sky
Broken clouds (4/8 but not all)

Wind speed
Light (1-16mph Flags/twigs in motion)

Wind direction
not observed

Wind direction in degrees

Slope aspect
North

Aspect in degrees

Slope angle

Elevation

Snow depth

Boot/ Ski penetration

Precipitation
None

Activity, recent avalanches
No

Brief description

Whumphing noises, shooting cracks. collapsing
no

Rapid warming
no

Obvious avalanche path
no

Terrain trap
no

Comment
Headed up ACH on Tuesday afternoon for a quick tour. It became immediately apparent on the climb that there was a layer of breakable crust under the soft snow surface from the storm earlier in the week. We skinned up to the top of the old chair 1; there were no wind drifts or wind loaded surfaces that I could see. The skiing was punchy and challenging on account of the unsupported crust buried beneath the soft snow surface. A quick pit at the base area revealed a ~10cm base of icy old snow, then ~25cm of new soft snow, followed by a 5-10cm rain crust, and finally a 5-10cm layer of soft snow on top. The caretaker confirmed it snowed-rained-snowed, corroborating the observation. It’ll be interesting to see how this affects the new snow forecast for 12/25-26. 

Publish this observation
Yes I would like this observation Published
 

Kratka base of chair 1 pit