Observation: Cardiff Fork

Today we traveled predominantly on N, W, and NW aspects between 7400' and 9600', finding poor structure pretty much everywhere we went. The new snow was relatively light and with little wind effect where we traveled. Above 9500' we had an average HS of 40-50cm on the aspects mentioned above. Collapses underfoot were common but never traveled far. It seemed like the new snow bonded fairly well with the old interface, but this old interface (around 14cm beneath the surface)is a mix of crust and small grain facets. In places where the wind had impacted the new snow during the storm, this new/old interface bond was much weaker, and it was easier to find results in a pit. We managed to find a pocket of wind deposited snow in an isolated terrain feature (NW 9400') which produced a very small avalanche, failing on this interface. see picture.