25 Mar 00, 0930 - 1530, Snowy Range.  Skied the Potholes route to an old, abandoned trail about
1/2 mile east of Brooklyn Lake, then descended northeast along the trail into the North Fork Little
Laramie River.  Caught the North Fork Trail at the point where it descends into the North Fork
drainage, then skied back to the Potholes route.  Returned to Green Rock parking area by the
Potholes route.  Snowmobilers had followed our ski tracks along the Potholes route, suggesting
to me that it is important to try to secure this route as a formal ski trail.

Dug a snowpit in the upper North Fork drainage, approximately 1 mile ENE of Brooklyn Lake.

Location:  Upper North Fork Little Laramie River, approximately 1 mile ENE of Brooklyn Lake
Aspect:     20 degrees, SE facing slope.
Weather:  Partly cloudy, light winds, 11 C, no precipitation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Depth (cm)          Hardness         Shovel shear      Grain diameter Comments
0--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Fist                                         1 mm             New powder (melting)
15--------------------Credit card -----Easy -----------------------------Hard, old surface ------------
                           1 finger                                    < 1 mm             Isothermal
54----------------------------------------Easy------------------------------Old surface -------------------
                           1 finger
109-------------------------------------------------------------------------Old surface -------------------
                           3 fingers
144-------------------------------------------------------------------------Stopped digging -------------

Interpretation:  Most of the snowpack has stabilized through equitemperature metamorphosis.
For this reason, the snowpack is pretty stable.  However, a Rutschblock test revealed that the
15 cm of dense new snow on the surface slides very easily (no jumping required) on the hard,
old surface underneath.  Conditions like this can be dangerous on slopes greater than 30
degrees.