Weather
Steady breezes kept temperatures cold throughout the day. Blue skies. Strong winds out of west and north. Sun did not seem to warming south-facing snow surfaces, but we were out of the field by 2pm.
Snowpack
We dug on a shady ESE-facing slope and found 118cm of snow, with 20cm of new snow. The layering was very distinct with the December drought layer clearly visible. In our hand hardness profile, we all these layers to be weak, fist-hard to fist-minus. Facets grew larger the deeper you dug into the snowpack, with depth hoar near the ground. Stability tests resulted in moderate and hard non-propagating results on the December drought layer. Essentially, this a weak snowpack, waiting for a slab to become dangerous. The recent 8 inches did not form that slab in sheltered areas.
Avalanche
We found a fresh natural avalanche on the lower flank of Hermosa Peak's north face.