Anthracite Mesa

A chatty snowpack produced frequent signs of instability.  Many slopes in the area collapsed naturally during the storm.  The few slopes we skied around 30 degrees, collapsed and cracked, but didn't avalanche.  The slab thickness and hardness make it unlikely to facet away anytime soon.  Surface Hoar may cause future issues once it snows again.  Riding conditions on lower-angled terrain were excellent;  soft, supportive, and fast.

We traveled through east and north terrain below treeline.  Snowpack depth was generally around 80cm deep with an obvious weak layer near the ground.  We experienced numerous collapses with a few rumbling.  A couple of slopes around 35 degrees steep cracked but didn't avalanche.  Generally, the slab was 2 feet thick and mostly 4-finger hardness.  Ski penetration while skiing was only about 6 inches.  Surface Hoar was present on the north half of the compass, 5-10mm.  Many slopes collapsed naturally during the storm so we had to search for a representative slope to perform tests that hadn't collapsed.  One uncollapsed feature produced an ECTP 13 failing on basal weak layers.