Observation: Little Cottonwood Canyon

Spent the day mostly in Maybird on the church and maybird apron - spent a good amount of time on the skin track poking around with my probe to get a feel for snow depth/variability to get a feel for how deep week layer is. Found quite a bit of variability, from ~105cm in spots near the bottom of the apron (~8000ft) to up to 230cm in a few spots higher up in the trees (~9400ft) and on wind loaded features. Notably the depth was not very predictable and I found areas that differed in depth by almost a meter really close to each other. Thought this was notable as it means it could be really hard to predict where thin (weak) spots might be - not sure if this is more variability than normal?? Maybe high winds during the last few weeks made depths more variable than normal???

also dug a quick pit in a relatively deeper spot in red pine trees (9400, NE) found similar structure to what has been discussed in forecast/other obs where snow is deep, with faceted weak layer down about 125cm from surface. Facets becoming harder (~4f +) but still dry and quite loose in this location. No tests or legit pit profile since time was tight.