Unaffiliated / Individual

Widespread surface hoar and near-surface faceting, particularly on north aspects. Much of the top 10-20 cm of the snow is beginning to facet. The crust layers near the base were all decomposing. Basal facets becoming moist -- can form into snowballs.

Questions: 1) With time, would you expect the facets at the ground to grow into bigger facets or begin to round? answer: I would expect them to grow over time due to the significant gradient in the snowpack. 2) Since the layer at 70cm has a lower stability test score than the layer at 44 cm, why isn't this the most unstable layer in the snowpack? My answer would be because of the large Surface Hoar grains found there. These are very large at 6mm and weak grains and could collapse and fail with a Quality (Q1) shear found in the stability test. Weakest layer with a slab on top.

Pit dug by Joe and Marcus. Dug under 'Telex' chute, out of SAB.