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Shovel shear 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.
- Insert the shovel 1-2 feet vertically behind the column. If the column fails without pressure this is a "very easy" shear. If failure occurs with light horizontal pressure this is an "Easy" shear. These are indicators of unstable snow. The rating then goes to "Medium","Hard" and "Very hard" as you exert progressively more force. The force you exert is relative so are these ratings.
- When a layer 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). The shear test in a hasty pit can identify weak layers. Examining the crystals in these failures can indicate reasons for this lack of bonding.
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