South dogtooth

Got to the same zone south of Canyon Creek twice a couple of days apart. The new(ish) snow is becoming a more consolidated slab with the warmer temps. There has also been a fair amount of wind transport in this area over the last few days in exposed treeline features. A quick compression test on a treeline feature gave moderate sudden planar results on facets buried 30-40cm. The upper snowpack is upside down with the top 30-40cm being 4 finger or 4 finger + with fist facets immediately underneath. You can feel this density change pretty much everywhere when you poke the snow with your pole. The cohesion of the surface snow varies from place to place but the presence of that very weak facet layer is certainly widespread. We had to avoid any areas with rocks or trees even in low angle terrain because you end up sinking into the wells while skiing downhill. No whumpfing and minimal cracking in the surface snow on wind exposed features. A lack of whumpfs and cracks should NOT inspire confidence right now as recent significant avalanches in the immediate area paint an excellent picture of what kind of snowpack we're dealing with. Sometimes it's a good thing to be a little afraid.