Surprise ECT results at Kingsbury

Riding conditions were generally firm and physical around Kingsbury this afternoon, with minimal track and ski penetration observed. Boot penetration was only 15cm. Previously wind loaded slopes did not indicate instability using informal obs, and due to the limited penetration I was tempted to "call it good," but I decided to dig formally anyway. There were several strong crusts within the top 50cm of snow, and I could still identify the graupel and surface hoar layer down 35cm. I got propagating results on Extended Column Tests (ECTP 27 and 28, down 35cm) on the surface hoar. The graupel just below the surface hoar was mostly faceted away but there were still recognizable graupel shapes. Due to the crusts above, these otherwise unstable results are a little difficult to interpret, but the fact that the graupel/SH layer was still reactive is still worth noting.

Temperatures were cool, with a NW wind. I did see some wind transport during gusts, but I didn't observe any significant pockets of new wind slab development. Sunny slopes had a crust at the surface that did not show signs of wet instabilities.