Mount Washington resort West Ridge

We are observed from 1000 m to 1450 m. Most aspects. Little wind effect was evident until you got over 1400 m then some drifting and light cornice formation was noted. Foot penetration range from 10 to 50 cm. The crust (newer)collapses and sounds hollow. New snow is approximately 5 to 8 cm over the crust it’s developed around 10 March. On west aspects this crust is actually facetted and has a collapse and shear under it. A light layer of surface hoar was observed on cooler aspects buried under the new snow and above the crust. Where found produced sudden planar shears. The best shears we observed were between 1000 m and 1400 m on west aspects with the collapsing crust on low density snow. The crust is brittle and carrying crack propagation. Despite this most slope tests were relatively uneventful. Wind slab development is possible with 5 to 20 cm of light snow sitting near the surface. The temperature did reach about 2° for a little while but the trees didn’t shed except for below 900 m. No natural slides observed. Skiers were skiing west lines from 1500m with no events 30 to 40 degrees. Caution future snow falls as collapsing layer with faceted crust above could be surprising.