Quick report
We found poor snowpack structure and had easily reactive propagation in snow pit tests on a tour up towards Goat shoulder. The surface conditions in the morning were ‘variable to poor’, going from icy firm at the road to breakable windboard at 3000ft, even on north-northeast aspects. 2 pits with 3 ECT tests at 3000ft: - 1st pit, ECTN of top shallow wind slab on layer of facets and 4F snow above April melt-freeze later - 2nd pit, ECTP3 of wind slab down to the melt-freeze layer - could easily find and leverage out deeper slab (3/19 storm) less than a meter down. - top wind slab would collapse underfoot where we skinned, but not propagate to ski length. Given all the lemons and red flags, we turned around to enjoy the rest of our day out of avy terrain.
Avalanche
Several avalanches up to D2 from recent days visible on south and southeast aspects below Magpie.