No TG snow under all this new stuff, but there were some faceted grains

And as one of Louie’s instructors on this course, I’d agree that pits are only one part of the equation, and that spatial variability plays an enormous role in skier triggering of avalanches, especially in a generally windy and shallow snowpack such as ours here in CO.

With that being said, snowpits, especially operational ones, can be an incredibly useful tool and one of the only ones, to track changes in instability over time and if these instabilities are strengthening or weakening…therefore they are a better and more commonly used tool among the experienced crowd I feel, as a tool to help with instability predictions on a more longer term view, then in the short term immediate decision-making, on if an individual slope is safe to ski or not.

Jayson (Crested Butte Mountain Guides AVY 2 Instructor)

Also, I’ve found that if I’m going to be spending multiple days skiing in an area, digging several pits the first day can give me an excellent idea of if the snowpack is really dicy or perhaps bonded well and thus less scary.

Where I find them truly useful is to quickly evaluate a new storm layer, since in our climate (Colorado) new storms usually come in inches, not feet (other than right now), so such hasty pits can sometimes even be dug with the hands or ski pole baskets.

Besides the snow science, is digging snow pits really that useful? There will always be a dangerous layer somewhere hidden below, and on top of that the conditions might be different again 100m away. You’ll have to dig up the entire mountain to be able to say something about avalanche potential

To my opinion, terrain selection is a far more useful aproach (and much more time saving).

During my Avy class the instructor recommended testing cornices for snow pack stability. Standing on top of one, simply start pounding close to the edge with one ski and see if you can trigger a mini-avalanche (don’t do dangerous cornices of course!). The easiness of triggering one tells you something about the conditions of that day. Of course, experience is the key here as with most avalanche things