Point 6

It was another hot day today without a solid refreeze overnight. The snowpack has gone through a period of rapid change to very wet conditions. I observed debris from a widespread natural wet loose avalanche cycle that occurred over the last few days on steep slopes on all aspects. Most of the avalanches were small, but several were large, where cornice failures had gouged down. The period of peak wet avalanche sensitivity was likely yesterday or the day before, but I still easily triggered large rollerballs and small wet loose avalanches today. I also encountered many areas where I trenched down in unsupportable wet snow while on skis. Without skis, I probably would have just been stuck in chest deep mank. These spots were especially prevalent on southerly aspects. Even after all of this hot weather, there are still a number of large overhanging cornices that have not failed yet. 

I dug a snowpit on a northeast aspect at 7500 ft. There was 8" (20cm) of wet to very wet snow at the surface. Below that, there was moist snow down to a crust buried 16" (41cm) deep. There was a thin layer of softer snow just above the crust that produced propagating results on hard taps in Extended Column Tests (ECTP21). The snow grains were moist decomposing fragments that had originally been rimed precipitation particles. I did not see any other signs of instability pertaining to this layer today other than potentially some of the small cornice triggered slabs.