little_ey
Member
Pit study from Feburary 3, 2012.
We've all been reading about how sketchy the Colorado snow pack is.
So,
Scott and I decided to do a reconnaissance mission up into Coon Hill,
on Loveland Pass. This is the same area from my previous post from
January's snow study.
In the same spot we dug our pit from
January we found it to be very sturdy. (30 degrees above treeline, East
Facing) It looks like the wind did a lot here because last month it the
layers were numerous and very unstable. This was a little strange to
us, but we know that this area is still one of those... it's mostly
fine, until it slides all the way to the ground.
What was not
fine was our second pit. This pit was at 30 degrees at treeline on an
East facing slope. The snow was soft here, not wind buffeted. Just
stepping off our skis to dig the pit sent off a "womph" and cracks. It
was about 4 feet to the ground and went on the third hit from an elbow
swing. The part that broke off was nearly three feet and slid on top of
what I now call diamonds. Because when you inspect it in your hands, it
looks like Tom Shane from Shane Co dumped a bag of loose diamonds into
your glove. There are many unstable layers below this whose granulars
get larger, closer to the ground.
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