Quick report
As we toured up the north side of Smugglers today, we dug into the snow to investigate the persistent layer at the bottom of the snowpack. On NW-NE aspects, a very weak layer exists in the bottom 20cm of the snowpack with 2-4mm facets, and specifically on N aspects this layer included Depth Hoar. This layer is sandwiched between a layer of ice just above the ground and a sturdy pencil hard crust above. Total HS ranged from 25cm (W aspect) to 44cm (N), and only 1-3 inches fell today, so no significant load yet in this area to produce reactivity from this weak layer.