Field Trips - Snow Study

For a week in February 2005, Driggs sixth grade science classes joined FTR Education Director Anna Lindstedt and Targhee Institute naturalist Andy Steele at Grand Targhee Ski Resort to study the snow pack and water quantity. Anna led the students in digging snow pits and describing the snow profile layer by layer. Students investigated the hardness, temperature, crystalline structure and density of each layer, as well as the pH of snow that falls on the resort. Steele helped students take core samples of the snow pack with snow tubes borrowed from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Students then calculated the average density of the snow pack, how much water the snow pack holds and how much snow we need over the winter season to sustain Teton River flows and water required for irrigation.