Observation: Soldier Fork

Several hand pits near the top of N facing Soldier Fork showed about 80 cm of snow, consistent slight density gradient from fist+ at the surface to 4 fingers at the bottom, with about 10 cm dirty small-grained facets near the ground. Isolated columns failed first by the top ~20 cm sluffing off, then the rest of the column failed easily on the basal facets. There was no slab formation/cohesion in the wind-sheltered area we examined and no suggestion of propagation. We ventured onto small steeper slopes with no collapsing, cracking, or activity aside from minor sluffing. We noticed one skier-triggered sluff that entrained enough snow on a short 40ish degree NW facing slope to pile up ~1.5 - 2 m deep next to the creek in Butler Fork, on the opposite side of the creek from the summer trail and normal skin route - deep enough to be dangerous if you happened to be stopped there or carried by your own sluff. The steep N facing Wilson Chutes showed recent ski/snowboard tracks along with the S facing side of Wilson Peak.

We noticed enough evidence of moose activity to be on alert in the steep narrow gully.