Pit Maneuvers: Snow pit tests and digging protocol

by The Editors October 28, 2013 Leave a Comment

When was the last time you dug a snow pit? During that Avy 1 course you took a few years back? On that one hut trip last winter to a zone you’d never skied before? Digging pits is often seen as time consuming, but, in reality, there’s no better way to understand the snowpack upon which you’re traveling.

Through a well-dug snow pit, you can learn about the strength and energy of the snowpack, how much a slide could propagate and the structure of the snow’s layers. Pair those findings with weather, terrain options and other observations to help aid in deciding where to ski.

Here, Sarah Carpenter of the American Avalanche Institute gives the rundown on pit basics and snowpack tests. To learn more about snowpack assessment and avalanche safety, check out an avalanche course near you.

Digging a Pit:

BackSide Elevated Education Episode 12 – Digging a Snow Pit from K2 Skis on Vimeo.

Shovel Shear Test:

BackSide Elevated Education Episode 13 – Digging a Snow Pit: Shovel Shear Test from K2 Skis on Vimeo.

Compression Test:

BackSide Elevated Education Episode 14 – Digging a Snow Pit: Compression Test from K2 Skis on Vimeo.

Extended Column Test:

BackSide Elevated Education Episode 15 – Digging a Snow Pit: Extended Column Test from K2 Skis on Vimeo.

Filed Under: Videos Tagged With: Mountain Skills

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: WINGWALKERS: THE STORY OF CALIFORNIA’S REDLINE TRAVERSE
There’s a range in America’s most populous state that’s hemmed in by desert and people. Each year, millions come to California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to collectively attempt to climb Mt. Whitney or ogle Yosemite’s Half Dome or ski at Mammoth or hike the John Muir Trail. In the spring of 2016, Adam Howard, Craig Dostie and John and Tyson Hausdoerffer came here for a different reason: To ski some of the famed Redline Traverse, first pioneered in the early ’80s. Summits here tower 10,000 feet above the Owens Valley to the east, and it’s arguably on this granite and snow where both American ski mountaineering and long-distance ski touring were born. The mountain objectives and gear have changed a lot in the century since the first snow surveyors plotted these hills. But a few things have stayed the same: It’s still breathtakingly high; it can get insanely deep; and, from October to May, there’s no one here. Wingwalkers is part of that story published in Backcountry Magazine, Spring 2017; written by Adam Howard, read by Matt Richardson.

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