Quick report
Saturday ski touring at Stevens Pass before the resort opens. Avy forecast for the day was moderate (progressing to high as a new storm rolled in), with easterly winds. I dug a snow pit on an E facing aspect @ ~4900' - first time doing this so apologies for possible inaccuracies! The pit showed ~1' of light new snow on top of a hard rain crust from this week's rain event. Below the rain crust was relatively unconsolidated wet snow. The new snow seems reasonably well bonded to the crust as the hardness increased progressively with depth (see photo). I also isolated a column and performed a compression test which fractured at 24 taps, failing below the rain crust. The fracture was not clean and the snow above it just crumbled somewhat instead of forming a slab. As I ventured higher to >5000' I noticed signs of more wind affected snow. Skiing down (mostly low angle slopes) I did not see cracking or any other signs of instability.