Hello,
Skied in the first slide path up Chickadee Valley today. Did an extensive pit at the bottom of the path. Multiple moderate compression test results down 35cm on a facetted crust layer and hard compression test results down 70cm in depth hoar. Both failures gave broken shears. A Rutschblock test gave a score of 6 with a failure of less than half the block (broken shear). Southerly aspect.
This information was taken with a grain of salt as on the other side of the Valley there were multiple recent size 2 avalanches. As we toured further up the path the crust down 35cm became more pronounced and hand shears gave cleaner failures.
As in Karl's MCR this just shows the difficulty in assessing the avalanche conditions right now.
Good ski quality on the way down.
Keep your heads up,
Jesse de Montigny
Assistant Ski guide
Assistant Alpine Guide