Observation: Douglas Island

Dug a couple of pits in Dan Moller bowl Thursday mid morning, both at 2000′, one on a south facing and one on a north facing slope, ~38degree slope angles. ECTN 20 and 27 @30cm, respectively.

South facing pit: 185cm total snow depth. CT 19 @ 30cm. ECTN20 on same layer.  Fist consistency down to this 30cm finger layer, then fist/four finger down to the gnarly knife layer at 85cm. Whole 85cm block came off with moderate pressure on shovel shear test.  Similar results on north facing pit, but with 150cm total depth, and required more energy to get layer at ~30cm to collapse.

Mixed skier/snowboarder and snowmachine group. Sledders earlier in the week had laid lots of tracks in avalanche terrain. We mostly stuck to main routes and off the biggest terrain, concerned about stepping down to this 85cm layer, tho’ bonding seems pretty good. Skiing very good in south facing trees, especially snow that hadn’t seen as much solar impact. More significant sun crust forming on south facing slopes Friday on exit to Dan Moller, but still found very good turns in both Moller and Troy bowls. Recommend being extra careful crossing frozen sled and snowbike tracks on skis and snowboards–especially near bottom of bow!–but otherwise, no complaints from our crew after a couple of sunny days in Dan Moller!