Surface hoar, old and new

La qualité du hors-piste était:

OK

Les conditions de neige étaient :

• Croûtée
• Poudreuse

Nous avons parcouru:

• Forêt dégagée
• Pentes raides

La journée était:

• Nuageuse

Isolated power flurries throughout the day on Thursday giving 2-3 cm new on top of surface hoar...

North facing slopes have soft snow and (now buried) surface hoar ranging in size from 15mm at ridge crests to 50mm in sheltered locations (first three photos).

Southerly aspects have a 1-3cm thick temperature crust (mostly supportive) with 2mm surface hoar on top + 2-3cm new from today. See fourth and fifth photos.

Dec 26th surface hoar (up to 15mm) still easily found down 66cm at 1815m, on a north aspect. Total snow depth was 195cm.

Impressive propagation in our snowpack test (like the cash register drawer popped open) on an extended column test (ECTPH 24 (SP) on the Dec 26th layer)... sixth photo...but there’s a 45 cm thick layer layer above (1F to 1F+), which appears to be bridging over this persistent surface hoar layer.

No new activity seen and we skied short steep slopes with only minor surface sluffing of near surface facets and surface hoar.