When I head out for a field day, I've always got a "hit list" - it's bad snow I'm looking for, always looking for the worstsnow there is.People don't trigger avalanches where thestrong snow is,they trigger them from the weak spots. So it's a very focused,detective work,trying to discover where theworst snow is hiding.In SWAG(Snow, Weather and Avalanche Guidelines) this is known as "targeted site selection", and I'm doing test profiles - collecting the type and amount of information that I want. I often walk away from a snow pit I've started digging when I realize I'm not going to find the weak snow layer I wanted to see. All strong snow? Why waste time? Just fill it in, and off to try another spot.

My snow "hit list" this week includedburied surface hoar and the facets on the ground.

So what happened to the brilliant surface hoar and small near surface facets that were on the surface Nov15thbefore the last storm? Did they get buried andif so, could they be an active weak layer? My thoughtprocess - warm temperatures, sunand strong windsdestroyed most of this weak surface snow, so that leaves me searching -

• Shady slopes
• Upper elevations
• Wind sheltered slopes

The red arrow below shows where I did find buried surface hoar - a spot about as shady and wind sheltered as you can get. Luckily, all tests found it to be a very stubborn weak layer, currently not a player, and it will hopefully continue to strengthen, surrounded by dense, warm snow.

As to those facets on the ground? Nothing new there - the pattern remains the same - the only places where I found them to be still dry and propagating a fracture in snow pit tests was above about 10,000', on northerly facing slopes.

And even with a"hit list" and preconceived notions, detectives always need to keep an open mind to other clues they were or weren't expecting, and askmore questions.

• The wind today and forecast for tomorrow?How much snow is available for transport, and what are the wind slabsgoing to land on?
• What about the loosening snow surface yesterday?Just starting to sluff on steep slopes today. Another weak layer on north?
• And finally, what is going on with slopes that already slid this year and have a very shallow snow pack? I'm thinking a visit to the Sunset area might be interesting later this week.

It's a fascinating, ever changing game, tracking down the weak snow.