 Burp the baby test in a hasty pit
- Isolate a column of snow about the width and depth of a shovel blade from your smooth face. Cut both sides and the back to isolate the column from the surrounding snowpack. This lets us evaluate the shear strength of the layers since that is all that is now holding them together.
- Find a point a little below an obvious layer. Use the shovel to cut a section about 18 inches high from the top of the column. Carefully lift this section clear of the remainder of the column. While balancing this section on your shovel firmly tap the bottom of your shovel blade with the flat of your other hand. Repeat removing 18 inch high sections until you have examined the entire column.
- When layers shears examine the snow at the shear plane to identify the sliding layer and the failure source(eg. buried surface hoar, ice lens, faceted snow).
- This test can identify otherwise invisible weak layers. Examining the crystals in these failures can indicate reasons for this lack of bonding.
|