Chickadee Ridge

We toured in the Mt Rose area on Chickadee ridge today. Leaving the meadow around 10:30 am under increasing cloud cover and modertate to strong winds. Light snow (<0.25 in/hr), strong winds (25-35mph gusts), and complete cloud cover were consistent throughout our tour

Test slopes (N. Facing ~8800ft) on the skin up revealed a shallow (1-3in thick) wind slab in some areas that was reactive to ski stomps on rollovers and isolated slopes, but did not propagate beyond the length of our skis. We did not ovserve any wumphing or other signs of instability today. 

An informal snowpit (9030', NE facing) revealed the Dec 11th persistent layer. We observed rounding and increased bonding of this layer compared to previous observations. A rough ECT test showed failure in this layer, but without significant propagation.

We made conservative terrain choices avoiding slopes steeper than 30 degrees and terrain traps. Snow coverage was thin with numerous rocks, trees and other barely covered or exposed obstacels. Snow quality was variable but generally good.