Quick report
Big over-hanging corniches surrounded most of the bowl, and thankfully, skiers and boarders had stuck to the slope in the middle with the least convexity where corniches had not built up. We did a compression test and extended column test on the skier's left side of the bowl where the terrain is mellower and on a clean patch of the wall, around 79° E aspect. The snowpack was at least 355cm (140"), but it could be more as we ran out of probe length and may have hit a thick crust instead of the ground. There are many slab signs on the surface, such as drifted snow, wavey texture, and obvious wind loading. The persistent weak layer that's been in the forecast for days now was not quite obvious on this aspect. Snowpack had a thick crust around 140 cm (55") deep that didn't react to the tests at all. We did, however, get some results from our test: Compression test: The top 15 cm (6") of fluffy, dry, and cold snow moved at CT3. The top 25 cm (10") collapsed at CT21. The top 40cm (16") slid at CT24. Very clear that the layers had not bonded well, and there was a smooth surface underneath the snow that slid. Extended column test: About 30cm propagation at 40 cm mark at ECTN 10 About 45 cm propagation at the same depth at ECTN 12. The later taps didn't propagate further, which was good to see. All in all, we were positively surprised as the snowpack seemed less reactive than we anticipated, given the weak layer and the crazy amount of snow in the last 10 days. That being said, our tests only provided information about the specific aspect of specific elevation. Surely, things can look different elsewhere.
Avalanche
Signs of recent avalanches on the rider's right side of the bowl under the heavily over-hanging corniches. No one had skied the side of the bowl, and rightfully so.