Quick report
Traveled through the burn on the E/NE side of Dirty Face to the summit under brilliant blue and windless skies above a prominent inversion extending from the Tumwater/Lake Wenatchee environs up into the Trinity and Napeequa drainages. The cloud deck hung out around 4400 ft for most of the day, rising to around 5000ft by the time we exited the field at 1600. Any aspect with even a hint of solar exposure had developed a thin surface crust. Easterly and of course polar aspects held preserved soft, dry snow at the surface. Air temps were significantly warmer on the summit of Dirty Face East than 1500 ft below in the forest. We skied moderately angled forested/treed slopes. No cracking/collapsing observed on ascent, nor descent. Pit at ~5200ft on E aspect: HS 202cm 1/31 layer from mid storm warm up ↓37cm (165cm) JDL layer ↓ 48cm (154cm) Layering right side up down to the JDL with F (202-193), 4F (193-165), and 1F (165-154) CT10RP 183 CT14RP 165 (1/31 layer) CT19SC 140 (The failure occurred in faceted grains deep to the JDL crust. Of note, this was more akin to a deep tap test by the time I had cleared the column from the 1/31 interface.) ECTN14 165cm (1/31 storm interface)- this was notable in that it was the same layer/result we observed the day prior on the west side of Mt Howard (8 miles to the W/SW), with similarly easy (read: spooky) shovel shear failure. Failure plane was subtle, involving 1-2mm faceted grains. I was unable to replicate any failure in the faceted grains deep to the JDL in the remainder of the ECT. Summit views of the Dakobed were plentiful, and despite extensive glassing no large or obvious crowns were observed. My takeaway from the day- having skied in this same terrain two days prior, I am now observing a very slow trend towards increasing density/settlement in the storm snow. No significant slab formation as of yet, but certainly moving that direction.