Facet.Pow.Sun !

We braved the chilly morning and sledded in to the Harvey Pass area with our skis.   Parking the sleds at 1900 m (-13, calm, clear sky), we toured to ridge top at 2200 m (-15, light SW, clear sky), where we had a good look around and we only saw one Size 1 Dry Loose release from a steep cliff band on a south facing slope. We had no signs of instability as we toured.   Approaching the ridge, we encountered wind-stiffened snow, so we backed up a little and transitioned there, rather than move into the wind affected area.   We dug at our transition point (30 degrees, north-facing, HS 165), and had no alarming results in our test. This, along with our observations during the climb, gave us the confidence to ski the open treed slope, which was great !   These weather conditions are promoting (continued!) faceting of the surface and upper snowpack, which is (wonderfully!) unconsolidated. We will, however, definitely be thinking about these weak facets once a slab forms on top of them with new snow and / or warming.