15cm (6 inches) of new snow. On Jan. 5th the very light and calm 3cm of snow did cover near surface facets. Throughout the day we did not find cohesion in the new snow except in a couple wind effected zones. In those areas, we had some minor cracking, a collapse reported by a guide/party in front of us, and a shooting crack from one student's hand pit to another students hand pit. With more loading (even just moderate winds), this new snow will soon be a slab on a VERY weak layer right at the new snow old snow interface. Multiple snowpits with CTs and ECTs with very sensitive results but no propagation. Results below.

Drew Hardesty's tidbit in the Jan. 5th forecast regarding the calm storm on Thursday holds true...3cms of snow covered VERY weak near surface facets. This coupled with the obvious facets in the rest of the snowpack are setting us up for a major ungluing in the Southern Wasatch. From ground up to 30cms are the weakest facets (F-), with a deteriorating faceted 1F- crust sitting atop.