Observation: Bountiful mountains

Not a good snow year.

Slogged up to the MG portion of Bountiful Ridge. The snow was very enticing. Dug a pit first and got an ECTP26. Might have been partial propagation, but it looked to me like the whole 3x9 block failed. The pit profile consisted of snow that seemed mostly homogeneous in terms of strength. Fist and 4 fingers mostly, but it was clear that the snow near the ground was weakest, and that everything above that was relatively stronger. (Typical strong over weak setup here.) The block failed at the weak/strong interface. It's sugar near the ground, but it was just a bit weaker than the rest of the snow. I know my description here sucks.

Anyhow, the pit test turned me back. I had to stand there for quite some time debating whether to ski the slope. Eventually I realized there was only one right call here: go home. Skied Rectangle Bowl instead to get off the ridge. The wind was heinous. Not much snow for it to transport, but it was transporting some snow for sure.

Note that the picture with the red line shows the fraction point. It was really easy to dig my pit all the way to the ground.

I rate today and tomorrow as moderate danger, but the danger is on the rise, I think. Also, I can't tell if the weak snow at the ground is "healing", whatever that means.