Back for Mear!

Today we returned to Mear Lake with a goal to further investigate the presence of the Deep Persistent Slab in this region.

We had a nice clearing of clouds for a few hours midday, but they quickly returned around 2 pm. Winds were calm, and temperatures hovered around -10 at the cabin. We saw that one major slide path above the access trail failed for the second time this season at size 2.5. And we observed one recent natural Wind Slab size 1 in extreme terrain on a NE facing alpine feature.

After a long digging session 265 cm to ground we were able to identify and test the Deep Persistent problem. We got no results on a deep tap test. And no results from an ECT targeting the upper snowpack. The facets over crust interface that makes up the Deep Persistent Slab problem exhibits a higher density and more rounded grains in this region. This contributes to a better bond, and these findings are backed up by a lack of natural activity on the layer west of Elkford.

We are still in search of more quality data to increase our confidence. We will be continuing to travel cautiously and resist the allure of larger slopes with clearing weather on the way this week!