Pow Cow Sun Pow

Great trip up Little Sand Creek, where we found beautiful sunshine, clear skies and cold temps (high of -16 at ridgetop at 2000 m) with a light SW wind. With great visibility, we were able to see two Size 2 natural avalanches, both in the shade on steep N and NW aspects, that looked from afar to be 24-48 hours old. We also saw lots of recent ski and sled tracks on all aspects, no signs of avalanches from their travel. We dug two test pits: one on a West aspect at 2000 m near ridgeline, in which we had no results in two extended column tests (ECTX). In the other pit, on the East side of the same ridge, we had isolated, stubborn, resistant propagation down 25 cm on the January drought layer in an ECT. Snowpack depth at ridgetop at 2000 m was 200-250 cm The structure of the snowpack is a problem at the moment, with surface hoar being the driver, however, it is isolated and hard to put a finger on exactly where it is found in the terrain.