Over the past week I've spent most of my field work probing the depths of the snowpack on mid and upper elevation aspects facing W/N/S where the PWL lives. Where the snowpack is deeper (> 1 meter) the slab on top of the facets is now quite strong - from 1F to Pencil hardness. The facets near the ground are damp as we have removed the temperature gradient and continue to gain strength and are now 4F+ hard.

Today I wanted to look into the upper reaches of the Millcreek/Neffs ridgeline as this is the type of steep and rocky terrain where the snowpack may be thinner and weaker and could produce avalanches failing on the PWL. Most terrain above 8,500' (where the PWL exists) has a 1.2 - 1.8m deep snowpack, but I was able to find one spot in a steep, northerly-facing starting zone in upper West Porter where the snowpack is"only" 120 cms deep. The facets are 4F hard and damp, but I was able to get CT30 and ECTP30, failing down 1 meter in the faceted layer. I think this highlights how isolated the PWL problem is and that you would have to find exactly the right weak/thin spot to trigger a deep slab avalanche.

I was also able to look at some solar aspects and it appears the snow on these aspects has undergone enough warming and has adjusted to the sun and warming and may only be a problem in very isolated terrain such as steep, southerly-facing couloirs.