Aspen

It was very hot with little noticeable breeze and no clouds in the sky.

Around noon on a northwest-facing slope, a pit around 80cm deep showed moisture had entered all the layers. I found a series of hard melt freeze crusts, ice lenses, and softer layers in the upper snowpack. I was able to make hard snowballs out of the basal facets in my northwest-facing pit. Right after I put my skis back on, there was a significant collapse as I began to walk away from my pit. An Extended Column Test resulted in propagation on the 11th tap on this aspect. On the northeast side of the ridge, the snowpack was much deeper around 120cm. Around 2:00pm boot penetration was beginning to punch through, sinking through the snowpack up to my hip. While the basal facets were gaining moisture, they were still pretty dry unlike the northwest side. I did not see propagation in snowpack tests on this aspect.