Quick report
We took a mellow tour up the East Ridge of Tamarack, avoiding avalanche terrain due to concerns about both wind slabs and persistent instabilities within the snowpack. Approx 10" of new snow from 12/7-8 at the trailhead, with 12-14" at higher elevations. There were signs of wind transport even at lower elevations and in treed areas, with yesterday's tracks refilled with a combination of new and wind transported snow. Temps were cold this morning and the new snow showed little sign of settlement. It was a bit disconcerting to feel softer snow collapsing under the denser wind transported layers near the surface as we broke trail, but we did not experience any signs of widespread collapsing or hear any wumphs. We dug a quick snowpit to look at snowpack structure at 9400' on a NE aspect. We found structurally concerning layers at the ground (large striated facets and DH) and at the interface of the old and new snow 30 cms below the surface (buried near surface facets). This layer failed in small column tests but did not show signs of propagation.