Elephants Back

Very warm morning at Carson Pass. A thin crust/wet snow existed on warm slopes, but dry snow was on the surface of cold slopes - indicating our low point of 8400ft was above the recent rain line. Ski penetration was minimal, making travel easy. Informal tests did not show signs of instability, but formal tests produced unstable results on Dec 12th facets in two different locations, on slopes sheltered from winds before the facets were buried. In one location, I could not trigger the facets using an ECT, but a Deep Tap Test failed with Sudden Planar character. Nearby I was able to trigger two ECTs on Dec 12th facets, and both propagated.  The top inch of these facets was weak and loose, under 2ft of dense slab.

Unstable snowpack tests on Dec 12th facets