Our group traveled to Skook Peak via the normal skin track from the WMR boundary today.
We observed crowns and debris piles from storm slab avalanches in the Skook Chutes area from 12/29-12/30 (as reported in prior obs). We saw no other obvious signs of instability throughout the day.
One of our goals today was to assess the stability of the storm slab, so we dug 2 pits, completed a number of hand sheers, and performed other quick tests along the skintrack as we traveled.
In our SE facing pit at 6,700 ft we observed a 150 cm snow depth, and propagation with easy force (ECTP 8) 20 cm below the surface (storm slab). We did note the 12/17 crust and poor structure of the snowpack, but the weak snow above/ below the crusts deeper in the snowpack was unreactive.
In our N facing pit at 6,800 ft we observed a slightly deeper snowpack (180 cm) fracture with no propagation (ECTN 8) in the storm slab. We noted the poor snowpack structure at this location, too.
We noted surface hoar development on shaded slopes and protected areas throughout our tour.
Our group decided to remain conservative in our terrain choices given the touchy storm slab instability and lingering persistent slab problem. We skied low angle, low exposure terrain. North facing was blower, South facing was a bit more cohesive under foot, yet still fun.
