We saw a well settled snowpack in the area we were in. We probed at 2000m and couldn't feel
the Dec 5 crust, but did feel a slight weakness at 120 cm down in a 200cm deep snowpack. Digging
at 2200 m in a morainal feature (our high point) found 165 cm, the upper snowpack settling well,
Fist resistance at the top slowly strengthening to 1 Finger 80 cm down. Then there was a 3cm layer
of 1 Finger minus snow with larger grains (this must be the Dec 5 layer) before the snow became 1
Finger plus. No significant weak layers were felt with probing below this. No shears were found,
except for some resistant ones near the surface in the soft snow.
No cracking or whumpfing. There was what looked like a recent small size 2 off steep cliffs,
possible cornice triggered. It did not run far downslope.
There has been wind effect on the ridges and I can see this being a problem if these slabs were
overtop the low density recent storm snow. These areas seemed pretty obvious to us and easy to
avoid in this sheltered basin.
Mark Klassen
IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide
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