Maus Creek, Southern Rockies

A variable day with moments of sun but mostly cloud and, later in the day, cloud/fog on the ridgetops. Heavier/denser than expected snow and obvious signs of wind effect in the open upper valley near treeline. We heard one settlement while digging our pit (difficult to tell distance or direction) but no other obvious signs of instability. Ski penetration was only about 10 cm while breaking trail, less than expected. Lots of rime encrusted features up high reflecting the high humidity of the last several days.

We had a CTM 14 result down 75 cm on what appeared to be old, metamorphosing surface hoar. We also found sun/temperature crusts down 25 cm and 55 cm respectively. We did an extended column test but got no failure, which was surprising to us. We thought that the relatively consolidated and well bonded rest of the snowpack may be bridging this weak layer in our pit location. Then again, we may just be delusional!