Elephants hump

Near by pit test. N aspect, 8400ft Persistent weak layers observed 10+ inches/ 25cm of new. 86 HS Light NE wind, no blowing snow. 2/8 cloud cover. CT 14 SC down 40cm on NSF ( no SH observed) ECTN 14 down 40cm PST End 30/100 All failures observed on the top of the NSF layer 40cm down from the surface. We skied low angle terrain in the area with no observed instability. People were skiing more aggressively in the area, no results. Overall impression: touchy snow pack, with no slab formation above. If a wind slab or snow settlement causes a slab to be formed above this layer, I would expect it would be very easy to trigger. This observation includes more photos of the Elephants Back avalanche from Jan 6 (more details here).