East Missions

I hypothesized that I could find a thinner and weaker snowpack on the lee side of the Missions.  I was mostly wrong. 

• No discernable avalanche activity since the mid-November atmostpheric river.
• No obvious signs of instability.
• Encountered some thin (2 to 6 inch) hard slabs (1F) in the most wind-affected areas.  They were not reactive. 
• I found a similarly deep (5 ft) and right-side-up snowpack to what has been documented in the advisory area.  
• A large column test produced a non-propagating result with hard force, 16 inches below the surface.
• Obseved some faceting in the above mentioned layer. 
• Surface snow has not yet faceted at this location. 
• No buried surface hoar.

No signs of instability

Test pit at 7200' NE aspect: 

• HS=153 cm
•  ECTN29 down 40 cm on faceting rounds above AR crust.
• Below the crust, snowpack transitions from dry to moist with increasing depth.
• Bottom 10 cm are wet.
• See attached pit profile.

Hasty pit at 6200' NE aspect: 

• HS = 65 cm
• Bottom 30 cm are wet.