- Submitted by
- moritz.altenbach
- Observations date
- Friday, December 12, 2025 at 20:30
- Location
- 50.959479° N 118.088005° W
- Reporting on
- Snow conditions
%2F-118.08800530666934%2C50.959479284220464%2C8%2C0%2C0%2F1026x200%3Faccess_token%3Dpk.eyJ1IjoiYXZhbGFuY2hlY2FuYWRhIiwiYSI6ImNqd2dvZmUxdzE4ZWg0M2tkaXpuNG95aTQifQ.pBLM87fE3sIxRJqJT7Bf7g&w=1200&q=75 "RMR Backcountry Snowstudy Practice")
Quick
Avalanche
Snowpack
Weather
Incident
Information
- Is this a point observation or a summary of your day?
- Point observation
- Elevation above sea level
- 2,238m
- Elevation band
- Treeline
- Aspect
- W
- Snowpack depth
- 167cm
- Did you observe whumpfing?
- No
- Did you observe cracking?
- No
- Foot penetration
- 70cm
- Ski penetration
- 30cm
- Snowpack test result
- Moderate
- Snowpack test fracture character
- Uneven break
- Snowpack test failure depth
- 60cm
- Surface conditions
- New snow
- Snowpack test failure layer crystal type
- Crust
- Facets
- Storm snow
Comments
Went to the RMR backcountry to look a bit into the snow and get an idea of the recent storm patterns. Found a spot around treeline for a profile which was characterized by moderate windloading.
We were searching for the mighty surface hoar but only found the November crusts and some facets around them.
ECT broke without propagation in the new storm snow layers at ECTN27@135cm and ECTN30@126.
A shovel tilt after the test let the block slide smoothly below the 67-68cm crust and broke the block smoothly below the 107-108 cm crust, indicating that the weakness might indeed be still active in shallower conditions or during breakdown avalanches. We found some facets below both crusts.
