Quick report
Skied several aspects off Fireplug today, including NNE and E. 4-6” of new, low density snow existed pretty uniformly across all the areas I traveled. There was a pretty stout crust underneath, which was fully supportable to skis. I barely felt it at all on the more northerly slope, and the skiing was excellent. It was more prominent on the east facing slope, but the turns were still good. Despite the new snow, I noted no slab development at all, even at the ridges. The snow remained uncohesive, and in the steeper terrain (40 degrees and up) I did push some loose dry sluffs that ran for several hundred feet. They remained relatively shallow and didn’t pile up much. I did stop to dig a pit on my exit at 9180’ on a NNW slope, about 50 feet below the ridge. HS here was 95 cm, with 14 cm of new storm snow on top of the crust. The Dec. 12th layer was found at 43 cm above the ground, with a 1F to P hard slab above it. I performed numerous stability tests, and got no reactivity at all on the Dec. 12th layer, and even my PST only recorded a 58/100 END result. However, unusually, I did get several results right on the ground, which is the first time I’ve seen that this season. Two CTs failed there between 22 and 24 taps, with SC results. I then performed two ECTs and got propagation in the first one at 27 taps, again, right on the ground. The second was ECTX, but did fail when I pounded on the column a few more times after 30. There was a light north breeze blowing throughout the first part of my tour, but minimal transport was occurring. By the end of my afternoon, the winds had swung to the SW and picked up a little, and snow was beginning to get moved, especially near the ridges.