Apostles

Moderate SW ridge winds. Snowing 1cm/ hr with moderate transport. Small pockets of soft slab in lee features 10-20cms deep, at ridge only (1900m). No alpine obs. Ski quality is decent to 1600m, below that coverage is thin and travel is hazardous. Skied out via singing pass trail. The trail is mostly covered, a few small washouts but managed to keep skis on the whole time. Use caution.

Test pit on Apostle 4, 1850m. 15cms of new snow overlies 10 cms of surface facets above the Dec. 9th melt freeze crust. The crust was 10 cms thick here and pencil hardness. 1mm facets are above and below. Below the Dec 9th is a progressive and right side up snowpack with a couple other thin crust layers. Repeatable Compression test moderate, resistant planar results down 37cms below the Dec 9th on facets. Crust was supportive here. No evidence of Dec 12th surface hoar in this location.