January 17, 2007, Pineapple Basin, Alpental BC

Five of us headed up to Pineapple Basin for a pre-work ski tour.  We met another group of three on the way with similar plans.  Temps were in the mid 20's, light winds below 5K but strong and gusty on the ridges, clear skys above the wisps of fog flowing through the pass and over the Snow Lake divide.

Snowpack consists of a hard rain crust under 3-8" of settled and wind affected powder on shaded slopes and crust on sunny slopes.  The rain crust isn't as strong at lower elevations in the trees as it was in Pineapple Basin in the open, but was present to at least to our high point (saddle at top of Pineapple Basin).  We dug a hasty and  somewhat shallow pit at about 5K on a north facing slope.  We found moderate quality/moderate strength shears in the wind slab at the top of the snow pack on a grapuel layer above the crust.  The crust was strong and  while we were concerned about deeper weak layers felt that the bridging effect of the crust was enough to limit the danger to the new snow above the crust.  This new snow was slabby -- it dinner plated while skiing -- but was shallow.  All in all, a fine morning.