Olive Oil

Traveled up Olive Oil in Grand Teton National Park to ~9200'. Looking to higher elevations, we noticed multiple ridgelines had been wind-scoured down to earth. We stopped at 9000' to dig a pit on a NW slope previously scoured by winds. We intentionally looked for an area where the snowpack was thinner, near a rocky outcropping to determine the sensitivity of the buried weak layers. At this location, the total height of snow was 105cm (~3.5 ft) with the bottom 20 cm (~ 8 in) being facets. Snow pit tests yielded an ECTP26 on the buried facet layer. A dense slab (1F) lies on top of these weak layers, and the facets appear to be rounding slightly. When we moved away from the previously scoured slope, we found the average snowpack depth was 150 - 180cm (~5 feet) on west, north, and east aspects. 

Light snowfall from the morning and into the afternoon has totaled 2-3 inches of very low-density snow. Below 9200' winds were calm and therefore this new snow was unaffected by the wind. As we descended, we noticed a supportable crust underneath the new snow at elevations below ~8000'. 

No signs of instability were noted.