Feburary snow safety poll:

Two simple questions:

How many of you (who read this post) dig a snowpit for the purposes of the Rutschblock ski test everytime you go out into the backcountry?

-or-

What percentage of the time would you say you perform a thorough personal check of the snow stability on the slope you are going to ski?

I always dig a pit for shear and compression tests on anything over 30 degrees; for a full Rutschblock, rarely.
Personal check (or as part of a group dig) essentially always. Sometimes a slacker if multiple chutes on the same aspect are skied.

From the 4th edition of Snow Sense (pg 43), "It is crucial to note that stress and strength are not evenly distributed across a slope due to terrain and snowpack irregularities." More pits = better information.

Depends on how many days have passed since I last did the test and what the weather was like.
For instance, I skied in Shames 4 days in row. First day we dug a pit and did full RB but next three days , it did not snow and weather added to stability and we where in same area although we did do probe tests and ski cuts on other three days.

If I am in a new area, or there has been new snow and weather between trips then I did a pit and do RB and CT tests or if I go into a new aspect, north face instead of South for instance.

Good Question though!

Rarely do a Rutschblock, but I always do compression and shear tests, or watch while one of the group does one, unless we're in heavily anchored/lower angle terrain. Rarely do we test each slope we ski, though we often end up skiing laps on slopes of similar aspect and steepness. Ski cuts are the norm, certainly, at least. Good question!

A full pit is pretty rare for me. It is mostly just ski cuts and hasty pits. Mainly I rely on returning to the same place often enough to see the snowpack develop and on good route selection so that I can note the conditions on the way up from a safer treed ridge. If I see things shearing from ski cuts or wet sloppy snow naturally leaving steep sections then we stay on the safer terrain, if there are no supprises along the way and everything smells right then we make the call when we get high enough to enter more questionable terrain. Pits might tell you something about where you are but you can only derive and speculate from them about what is above you. I should probably do more of them. I have until recently relied on traveling with more experience people alot.