Went back up Corbin today and skied a few runs off “Helens” (by the weather station).
Broken skies and cool temps (-10 at the car in the AM) with the occasional snowflake and wisp of wind have allowed the storm instabilities to tighten up (less reactive than a couple of days ago).
On the route up and for my first two runs (which were on the skiers right side of the area) the snow felt surprisingly strong and I didn’t find any significant shears and the facet interface was down @ 60cms. The highways boys found similar results in the profile they did at @2100m. with a CTH 25 RP (resistant planar) on the facets. Where it felt weaker was on the lower flat section that had lots of unconsolidated snow on the surface before the storm. I didn’t have any Whumpfs or cracking on my way up or down the first two runs.
The ski quality was quite good with @ 30cms. ski penetration.
On my third run I went to the skiers left side and things were quite different there and I found the snow weaker in general – I chose a tighter tree shot to gain the run and avoided an open bowl feature that was to the left. While skiing down I remote triggered the bowl to the left - it was a size 2 slab @15m. wide and probably 60-80deep – no involvement (thankfully!).
So obviously things are quite variable out there and this is in just a matter of a few hundred metres.
Cheers,
Scott Davis
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide