Snowpack observation on Powderhouse

We toured up from the first parking lot at Powderhouse to the lower north side to practice weather and snowpack observations, and stability test. When we arrived at 10:30 am there was about 2cm of new snow on the ground, with some of it graupel. The skinning was better than expected with the “dust on crust” conditions and got better as we gained elevation. We conducted several CTs, DTTs, ECTs with no results. We also conducted a PST on the Dec 10 rain layer…. All with no results. The snowpack was consolidated and uniformly stronger with depth. Skiing out was better than expected.

Pic 1: Clearly identifiable decomposing rain crust between 60 and 61 cm.

Pic 2: ECTX but when I pulled from the back with my shovel it did release but with a lot of pressure on the Dec 10 layer (60cm). We conducted a PST on that layer with no results (100/100).