Overcast with periods of broken skies and overall pretty good visibility. Minimal winds where we were most of the day, but when we reached the peak of Troy they were moderate from the SW and had some pretty painful graupel-type precipitation in it.
Observation: Douglas Island
Location: Mt. Troy
Teaching for Mountain Edventures today with Johnny B. We traveled up the Mt. Troy uptrack/trail through the woods, and eventually up to the summit. Easy traveling, even for beginners. My group turned our strategic shoveling exercise into a snow profile to demonstrate some snowpack layering. Overall great snow and skiing in the area. No signs of instability. Wind affected snow was limited to the peak and we skied pow from top to bottom.
Weather
Snow surface
POW! 20+cms of light snow. Could not feel the firm snow below.
Snowpack
Right side up. Unsettled light powder on top of a crust/firm layer. Multiple crust, settled snow, and melt form layers from the new snow to the ground. No significant shears in our tests or observations. No reactive ski cuts. No snow was reactive to the skier traffic of multiple groups in the area.
Results: ECTN 21 Down 40cm (below 2 crusts), CT21 RP down 30 (below a crust). When isolated in column tests, crusts like these can make the snow above act like a slab than they really are, giving false-positive results. Cutting through the crusts with a saw is not representative of nature... just my 2 cents. Even still, resistant and non-propogating results in our tests.
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