Quick report
During my ski tour in the Northern Elkhorns today, temperatures were in the high teens/low twenties. The skies were mostly sunny and the wind was surprisingly light. There was approximately 3” of new snow that fell, undisturbed by wind, Tuesday night. The new snow was resting on a thin layer of rime that formed on the snow surface Tuesday afternoon. I dug a snowpit at 8413’ . The purpose of the pit was to examine the structural integrity and strength of the snow on this northeast facing slope. My biggest layer of concern in my snow pit is a 5cm thick layer of rounding facets approximately 80cm’s down from the snow surface. This persistent weak layer was located in between a thick slab and a relatively dense bed surface. This structural configuration is an ideal setup for a large avalanche capable of burying, injuring, or killing a person. That said, this particular layer of concern was unreactive when tested using an Extended Column Test as well as a Compression Test. Also, during our ski tour, we did not observe any avalanches, nor were we able to trigger avalanches on our test slopes. That said, I feel like an avalanche could be triggered on this layer under the right circumstances. Therefore, I continue to travel cautiously while recreating in our local mountains.