- Submitted by
- AvCan Northwest
- Observations date
- Friday, April 14, 2023 at 19:00
- Location
- 54.869650° N 127.525640° W
- Reporting on
- Snow conditions
/-127.52564,54.86965,8,0,0/1026x200?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoiYXZhbGFuY2hlY2FuYWRhIiwiYSI6ImNqd2dvZmUxdzE4ZWg0M2tkaXpuNG95aTQifQ.pBLM87fE3sIxRJqJT7Bf7g "Surface hoar surprise")
Snow conditions
- Riding quality was:
- Good
- Snow conditions were:
- Powder
- Wet
- Wind affected
- We rode:
- Alpine slopes
- Cut blocks
- Mellow slopes
- Open trees
- Sunny slopes
- We stayed away from:
- Convex slopes
Information
- The day was:
- Cloudy
- Sunny
- Warm
- Avalanche conditions
- Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.
Comments
Today we went to Hankin on the hunt for buried weak layers below the recent storm snow - and we found them!
We dug on northeast and northwest facing slopes in the alpine, and found a layer of surface hoar 30 cm deep below the new snow. This layer produced repeatable propagating Extended Column Test results (ECT P 17, ECT P 20) with moderate loads. The weak, feathery surface hoar crystals are not found everywhere, but it is worth investigating slopes for this layer as the result could be a significant slab avalanche, especially in wind-loaded terrain features and shady slopes.
We didn't see any new avalanches.
At treeline and below, there is a thick melt-freeze crust just below the surface. We haven't found the surface hoar in these areas and were able to find good skiing with 5 cm of creamy, moist snow over the crust.
The day was warm and cloudy, with mostly calm condtions.
