The buried surface hoar from 12/7 seems to vary over small distances between being active and dormant. It is present in pretty much all sheltered areas open to the sky such as meadows, so that part is easy. If it will bite or not on a specific slope is hard to judge. The easy solution I adopted is to not take the chance.
Approx 2 cm on new snow since 12/19.
I found 12/7 SH everywhere I expected to find it, i.e. sheltered areas open to the sky.
Pit1 @ 7800ft NNE gave ECTP22q1, PST 10/100 (End), CPST 25/100 (end) on 12/7@35cm down, HS 55cm.
Pit2 @ 8600ft N gave ECTN22, CPST50/100 (arr), PST30/100 (arr) on 12/7@40cm down
Pit3 @ 8700ft E gave ECTN25, PST50/100 (End)
I had a decent collapse just 100m away from the site for pit3, with a crack spanning more or less the perimeter of the slope. Upon investigateion, the crack was as expected on 12/7, and testing in the undisturbed snow above the crack gave ECTP12q1, CPST 35/100 (End), PST20/100 (End) @ 35cm down. In this pit the 12/7 SH was on top of a 2cm MFcr, but the other pits it was not.
Included are pics of pit 3 and 4, the other ones are very similar in appearance.
Quite variable results, in combination with all the small collapses I had on my way down I would say 12/7 is still fairly active and I will treat it as such until proven otherwise.
Problem | Location | Distribution | Sensitivity | Size | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Persistent Slab |
|
Layer Depth/Date: 12/7 SH Comments: Sensitivity seems to vary between unreactive and reactive over very small distances. |
I avoided avalanche terrain if open to the sky (i.e. meadows).