where to dig a snowpit?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Core Shot

that is so wrong. If you reallly "guessed skiing was not an option" then what where you both doing on the slope.

If its that sketch, you have to rope up to dig, or not ski it at all.

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As for spatial variability, that always comes to mind with a buried surface hoar.
Did I dig a pit where it was blown away by the wind?
Does this slope still have hidden pockets of hoar?
hard to say sometimes.

That is where the modern luxury of an avy center and internet shared data is so awesome.
I say the internet bulletin is more important than the pit.
If I could choose only one, I would take the pro forecast (particularly including the detailed season summary and pit pages, not just the one day forecast) over a pit I dig.

Coreshot, you are right, that was so wrong. I am one of the guys in that story. We had not planned on skiing anything that steep so our ropes and harnesses were at home. Going on that face was one of the stupidest things I have done. Having said that, I hope others can learn from our fuck up. It is very important to test snow that is representative of the slope you will be skiing. if we had used info from another face, or had dug a pit right at the top, we might have decided to ski it. How to balance this with safety is the question Ramble On asked. Our pit was dug in a good spot as far as being the same snow as the rest of the face, unfortunately we did it unsafely and got bit big time. Obviously we (skiers) do not rope up for every pit we dig. If we don't, are we assuming the face is safe? If so why dig a pit at all? It is a fine line as to where to dig and when to rope and is subjective. Each person will come to their own decision. I now err to the side of safety by a large margin. As for that story, I would have liked to have read it before it was submitted as there are some discrepancies in my view and I would have liked to alter a few things. One last thing. This happened at the end of April in Colorado. By that time on any given year you can pretty much ski anything. I will be leery of this year's snowpack late into the season.