Public Observation - Two Hasty Pits on Stanton Mountain, GNP

On 2/13, we dug two pits on a SW aspect @ 6700ft elevation. We found starkly different snowpacks in the two pits which were only 20ft apart.

Pit #1: Total depth- 65cm. Stability Test: CT2 Q3 at ground. Very Shallow snowpack with about 20cm of large well developed depth hoar crystals (2-4mm) at the base of the pack.Pit #2: Total depth- 120cm. Stability Test CT 22 Q1 at 94cm (26cm below surface). Less shallow snowpack, but with a much stronger structure relative to Pit #1. about 20cm of faceted crystals present at the base, but not like the large depth hoar observed in Pit #2.These are two hasty snowpit observations, but the take home message here is the importance of recognizing trigger points. These tests showed us that there were severe weaknesses present within the terrain that we wished to ski. So, even if we had reason to believe that the shallow pit represented an anomaly, the fact remains that it exist. Before we dug our two pits, it was not visually obvious that one site was going to be shallower than the other. And after analysis of what the site looked like before we dug into it, it very much represented the type of terrain we would have to ski through in order to enter our run.

If we were unlucky enough to ski with hard force into an anomaly like this and trigger the weak pocket, it could propagate into a larger avalanche. So we opted to move further down the ridge until we found a more conservative entrance to the run with less potential consequence.