Sometimes a Jewel

We toured around Jewel Basin today to monitor wind slab development and look for weak surface layers being buried by the new snow.

• Developing wind slabs were thin, soft, and isolated at middle and upper elevations by early afternoon. We hunted for just the right spot and managed to trigger a small one. Older wind slabs were hard and unreactive.
• We didn't see buried surface hoar, though it was hard to tell with just an inch of low density new snow covering the old snow surface. We did find a variety of crusts with facets above and below on sun-exposed slopes.
• We tested the snowpack and found that areas that have been colder, or where the snowpack is thinner, are weak and faceted above the 2/2 crust.
• We chose to ski steep slopes that had minimal new wind loading after cornice drops and ski cuts had no results. Alpine terrain had wind-crusted, punchy snow; sheltered, mid-elevation slopes with no wind affect were best.