Humpback

We took advantage of the beautiful weather to explore a bit further afield in the zone. We were especially interested in targeting some lower and lower mid-elevation shaded slopes for observations. We travelled from 2000' to 4500' on ENE and NE aspects. We found great snow above about 3300'. We observed no obvious signs of instability on our tour. The biggest takeaway is that that we still don't fully trust the snowpack and things are consistently inconsistent. There is certainly weak structure, but the presentation and distribution of the weak snow is highly variable. Major differences, even within the sidewall of a single pit can be found in the weak layers and crusts, which interrupted the pathway for propagation in a few propagation saw tests. The poor and variable structure and continued uncertainty still left us choosing conservative terrain and limiting our overhead exposure. The fantastic snow conditions make that choice pretty easy right now!

Surface hoar and near-surface facets on the snow surface in wind-sheltered areas with clear view to sky. Mild wind texture and thin (1-2") wind slab on exposed ridge lines yielded only isolated cracking around skis. Sheltered areas held 6-8" of fluffy powder on top of more settled storm snow from last week.  Overall, the weak layer presentation and distribution was highly variable, leading to difficult to discern layering and some slab fractures in PSTs where the weak layer either shifted or disappeared, halting the path for propagation despite the stout overlying slab. 

Pit 1 - ENE aspect at 3570ft.

HS 172 cm

172-160 - F/4F

160-132 - 1F

132-130 - Interstorm MFcr

130-122 - 4F PP/DF's - CT26 (SC), PST 40/100 End and PST 20/100 SF - ran on thin JDL crust

122-115 - JDL - thin crust at top - no result

115-98 - 1/10 Complex - no result

Pit 2 - NE aspect at 4400ft

245-220 - F-4F

220-202 - 1F

188 - Interstorm MFcr 

178 - JDL - no results

165 - 1/10 complex - CT13 (SC) and PST 45/100 End on 1 mm rounding facets within complex