Dug in on a NW facing slope at 7900ft on the top of the knob. I was definitely in a wind loading zone but was as sheltered as possible without venturing into the truly steep (pit was 30 degrees with 35+ rollovers below). Snow depth almost 1.7m in that location. Snow depth at 6500 feet was 1m, while snow depths in between ranged from 1.1 to 1.4m. Handpit at 6500ft was textbook with P hardness snow on the ground progressing to F snow on top. Pit at 7900 feet featured the bullseye I was after: old snow basal facets from this fall, representing a few to the bottom 25cm of the snowpack. Basically, facets seemed to be as deep as the ground vegetation was tall. Facets were damp and rounding. Above this, right side up the whole way with 1F progressing to F snow. Unsurprisingly, ECT offered no results given the large distance from top to bottom. After this, I cleaned the upper 70cm of snow and did an ECT in the middle of the snowpack at 1m height off the ground, again with no result. Vegetation intrusions in the facets prevented any realistic chance of attempting a PST. Storm interfaces were visible in a few spots within the snowpack, though I couldn't find any surface hoar evidence between layers (could've all been knocked down by wind at this location, though). Shovel shears offered no consistent results. In short, I think things are setting up nicely on Rodeo Ridge and Cutler Ridge, though the basal persistent weak layer still likely warrants a "scary moderate" for a while. Apologies for lack of photos. They were all junk. Despite my efforts, my camera lens rimed almost immediately when I attempted to use it.