Point 6

I got out for a quick afternoon tour in the sunshine up to Point 6 from Snowbowl. I didn't observe any obvious signs of instability other than some very minor cracking in wind lips and a snowpit test result that propagated on facets near the ground on a SE aspect. I observed widespread weak layers developing at the snow surface, including near surface facets, crust facet layers, and surface hoar. Other than the potential for some small dry loose sluffing, these layers don't pose a hazard yet. However, that will likely change when they get buried Friday into the weekend during the significant storm that is forecast to impact the region. 

South aspects got moist from the direct sunshine during the day and have crusts of various thicknesses at the snow surface. Radiation recrystallization appeared to be occurring on some southerly slopes. 

I dug a snowpit on a SE aspect at 7400 ft and found a relatively shallow snowpack. There were weak crust facet layers near the surface and 2 mm facets near the ground that produced one propagating result and one non-propagating result with hard taps in extended column tests (ECTP26, ECTN23).