Item: SLOPE-SCALE SNOWPACK VARIABILITY
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Title: SLOPE-SCALE SNOWPACK VARIABILITY
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings 2023, Bend, Oregon
Authors:
- Randall Osterhuber [ Central Cascades Avalanche, Bend, Oregon, USA ]
Date: 2023-10-08
Abstract: Traveling in the mountains with an avalanche safety class offers the opportunity to make multiple snow profile observations across a single slope near-simultaneously. This study summarizes the results of 556 unique Compression Tests (CT) from 66 different ski tours across 12 recent winters (2011 through 2022). These CTs were typically performed spread out across (normal to) the slope fall-line, several meters apart. While the vast majority of these block tests were performed by avalanche safety clients, the tests were closely supervised by the course guides. These CT data were collected from both Level 1 and Level 2 courses, and most commonly performed on northerly aspects and/or aspects lee to the wind. This study primarily addresses the differences in number of shovel taps to initiate planar failure across multiple CTs on the observed slope. In the instances where multiple failure planes were observed in a single column, the number of taps to initiate the first failure were recorded.
Object ID: ISSW2023_P3.25.pdf
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): Randall Osterhuber
Keywords: snowpack variability, spatial variability, Compression Test (CT)
Page Number(s): 1390 - 1393
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