2016

​Wind Slab 28 Sep

The new snow that came fell on 30cm slush. The top 10cm of the slush froze but the rest is still just preserved. This is causing a layer of instability. the new wind slab is becoming cohesive. If the predicted 40 cm of snow comes later in the week we may update the danger level due to the size and consequence​ of the new layer.

Wet Slab 14 Sep

 With the latest snowfall which started on the 14th of Sept, it has already created a 30 cm deposit. With this snow fall there is a lot of wind loading on South East aspects. This snow has fallen on a melt/freeze surface layer. Hand shear tests from today have shown that this new snow has not bonded to the melt/freeze layer it has fallen on. Caution is required on slopes over 25 deg on the loaded SE to NE aspects.

Rain 29 Aug

Recent rain event that started on the 29th of Aug has fully saturated the snow pack. The local avalanche danger for the NSW main range is Moderate. Natural avalanche activity has be seen between Stanleys / Twin valley NE of Thredbo ski resort. Other natural avalanche activity witnessed around the Mt Tate Mt Twynam area as well. We will look this weekend when the rain stops to see what the deep layers in the snowpack are doing.

Wind Slab 19-20 Aug

The recent new snow that fell on the 19th of Aug and continued until 21st of Aug has created a 30-40 cm Wind slab on all lee slopes (NE Aspects). This wind slab has not bonded well to the melt freeze ice layer from the warm temperatures of the past 2 weeks. We did get a CTE (6) Resistant planar on the ice layer down at 30 cm. Class 2 signs of instability were noticed while touring from 1300m to 1700m.Very easy results on hand shear tests and cracking under skis was noticed.

Wind Slab 14 Aug 

The NSW Main Range snowpack is very stable at the moment. No results on column test. Medium results on hand shear test all day from 1600m to 1800m

Wind Slab 22-24 July

​There was a large rain event on 21-22 of July with 125 mm of precipitation. This has washed away 80 cm of the snow pack. We then had a 15 cm snowfall that has fallen on the rain effected snow pack. The snow that fell on the night of the 22nd of July has fallen and bonded well to the melt freeze from the rain event. The snow that fell on the 23rd of July has a different density (Dryer) and has not bonded to the wetter snow from the beginning of the storm.
Pit results are as bellow
CTM (2) RP @12 cm 
CTH (2) RP @ 33 cm
We did a burpee test at got RP @ 10,20 and 35 cm See below photo

​Rain Event 21-22 July

With the rain that fell on the 21/22 of July the snow pack has now become Saturated. The large 85 cm Wind slab is now reduced to 10 cm and has a ice layer of 3 cm on it. ​

Wind Slab 12-13 July 

The recent new snow that fell on 12/13 of July has created a 85 cm Wind slab on all lee slopes (NE Aspects). This wind slab has bonded well to the melt freeze ice layer from the previous rain event on the 8th of July. We did get a CTM (16) Resistant planar on the ice layer down at 85 cm. All other tests were medium to hard results. NO signs of instability were seen on the lee slopes.

Rain Event 8 July

With the rain that fell during the week the snow pack has now become Saturated. The buried surface hoar has decomposed into melt forms and has bonded well. There were no results from Compression test and there were no signs of instability on lee slopes north facing. ​The snowpack has shrunk from 90cm to 40 cm

15cm Wind slab July 1

Did some digging on a North East aspect @ 1780m. 
​Snowpack depth 90cm.
Had easy results on hand shear quick test from 1680 to 1800m.
The snow pack has a 10mm melt freeze layer on the surface.  Buried surface hoar is still present at 12cm and 45 cm. We were getting easy results on the 12cm layer but hard results on the 45cm layer 
See results below
Buried surface hoar present @ 12cm, and 45cm. 
Crystal size 4-6mm. 
CT E 8 SC @12 cm on Surface hoar
CT H 28 SC @ 45cm on surface hoar
We will continue to monitor the buried surface hoar.
The melt freeze layer on the surface may become an issue with the next new snow storm coming this week with predicted 20-30 cm of snow

1cm Buried Surface Hoar on June 24 Wind Slab

48 cm Wind slab June 24 

Buried Surface Hoar - 20cm@ June 22 Storm Slab