On Tuesday, I spent my field day mapping faceted snow (weak layers) on many different aspects and elevations. Basically, to sum it all up; WE HAVE WEAK FACETED SNOW on all aspects at the mid and upper elevations. Now, due south-facing slopes are lacking faceted snow for the most part. However, if you turn just slightly east or west, the snowpack becomes faceted. If you find a shade line or a shaded pocket on a south-facing slope, it's faceted and weak.
This means; once we bury the current snow surface, it will be tough to tell what southerly terrain had bare dirt vs. slopes with a patchy snowpack. Usually, southerly facing terrain is not an issue with this type of weak layer. However, this setup is tricky because the only aspect that doesn't have a weak layer is very narrow, and the slightest mistake in aspect would likely lead to an avalanche.
My strategy will be riding slopes less than 30° in steepness once we get a storm on top of this weak snow... There is no doubt we will have an avalanche cycle once we load this weak faceted snow with stronger heavy snow on top.
