Observation: Turnagain

Route:
Magnum/Cornbiscuit parking lot up Cornbiscuit ridge to 3500′, skied in super bowl and gold pan

Weather:
Clear skies, temperatures in 20’s, calm to light winds, no precip.

Obvious Signs:
Avalanches: Multiple cornice triggered slabs of unknown age. Largest avalanche in gold pan looked
quite fresh. Isolated wind slabs on S face of Magnum/Super bowl partially filled.
Collapsing: NO
Cracking: NO

Snow Surface:
Surface hoar present up to 3500′ decreasing in size from 1cm @ 1500′ to 1-3mm @ 3500′. Very low
snow below 1500′, but a great path through the alders. 1500′-2500′
very firm ice crust below 5-10cm of near surface facets. 2500′-3900′ 10-30cm loose snow on surface
with variable wind effected areas.

Below the surface:
Only dug a pit on NE aspect of Cornbiscuit @ 3300′ in wind scoured area with 10-15cm loose snow
on surface.
HS: 85cm 30* slope
ECT P 1 Q2 10cm deep. Failure was on faceted layer beneath some kind of very thin firm crust.
ECT P 10 Q2 50cm deep. Failure on buried surface hoar layer sandwiched between 4F and 1F layers
of facets. Overall structure on this aspect was poor, however a 10cm melt freeze crust that was
30cm deep added strength to the lower snowpack.

This pit did not seem representative of the overall snowpack structure in most of the areas we skied.
Total snow depth was very shallow due to its location on windward side of the ridge.