Saturday, Feb 21, 1998
  Myself and Tok, the Alaskan Wonder Dog, skied to the small knoll in the north of section 19.  This is the area mentioned in the Feb. 8 report (Smith et al).  Skied down the Barber Lake Road to the sharp right turn, turned off to the East at a small saddle, and followed the ridge about 1/4 mile.  A very nice little hill, south facing, open at the top, with aspen glades at the bottom.  Unfortunately the snow had a bad breakable crust, which made it tough to ski.  However this will be a fine little tele hill if you catch it in condition.  The average angle is around 25-28 deg, so it should be safe enough in all but the worst
avalanche conditions.
  After making a few turns, and more than a few falls in the crust, we followed some old tracks (From Feb 8?) down to the Barber Lake road. There we met about 30-40 people and numerous dogs, participating in the Poker Ski.  Chatted with folks awhile and was offered a beer, which I regrettfully declined since I was "In Uniform".  Then skied up the road.  Tried a few more turns in a small glade below the road, hoping the conditions might be a little better (different aspect), but alas, the crust was ubiquitous.

Snow Pit Data:

Located in NW-NE-19-16N-78W.  Elev.=9640, SSE facing 28 deg slope. Open
slope near top of knoll.  Total depth = 65 cm.

Surface = smooth wind crust.

0-8 cm      Wind/sun crust, pencil hard, rounded, well sintered 2 mm.
      

9-22 cm    Fist hard, angular, 1-2 mm.

23-34 cm  One finger, angular, 1mm.

34-35 cm  Ice crust

36-45 cm  Four finger, cups, 1-3 mm.

45-46 cm  Ice crust.

46-52 cm  Four finger, cups, 1-3 mm.

52-53 cm  Ice crust.

53-65 cm  One finger, cups, 1-5 mm, slightly rounded.

65- ->       Ground (talus)


Ski Shear Test -- levered out entire block, very hard break at ground.

Rutschblock Test -- broke at 11 cm (within second layer) with 3 hard 
jumps (Rutschblock score = 6).