Snowpit on Tamarack

We dug a snowpit on a sheltered north aspect on tamarack peak. 

The total snow depth was 130 cm. There was a few mm thick rain crust at 50. Directly below the crust was a small softer layer but below that it was all wet heavy snow. In the new snow above the rain crust, there were several density change layers. We conducted an extended column test with the main result an ECTN25 result that broke on a density change layer 15cm above the rain crust. A few other layers above that crumbled on softer taps but none propagated across the column.

On the ridges above this point, the wind was blowing and transporting snow. We largely avoided wind-loaded terrain but got some minor cracking on small wind loaded test slopes.

On the descent, dense snow made traveling across flat areas difficult.