>>2344439>Is this an issue? The snowpack isn’t going to change from a meter away.It's not "an issue", just unprofessional and requires that much more excavation (thus time) to do the tests.
>I didn’t. I botched making my first column because I was using the back of my ski bc I didn’t have a snow saw.Right tools n' all. I've got a brooks-range saw that I love, but >tfw no more brooks-range
Rutschblock cord is pretty easy to make with some paracord, and unless you've got gnarly ice layers, knotted paracord works just fine in most snow conditions.
>>2344439>otherwise the pit was a shit showkek, but hopefully you learned what it's all about. That's the purpose of pitwork in a level 1, it's not about making the best pits (that's what pro1 is for). Most importantly is building your toolkit to use to identify problematic layers using information from the bulletin (avy problems) and conditions (weather patterns). "I think the problem lives here", then use those tests to confirm that. CT/DT, ECT/PST depending on where the PWL is, and shovel tilt tests are the "formal" tests I use most regularly.
That being said, on a freeride day, I rarely (read: never) do formal pits/obs, but i'm using the tools I have (probe, track, hand-shear, test cuts on low-consequence slopes with group communication) to make those obs informally.