Dug 2 pits. 1 on an unshaded NE slope at 10,000ft, one on a partially treed/shaded N facing slope:

NE slope: HS 145cm. Couldn't perform an ECT due to this pit having rocks breaking up the column.

N facing partially treed/shaded slope on the ridge up to little superior from cardiac: 31 deg slope. HS 70-80cm. ECTP11. Failed on the 2nd layer of facets down, about 50cm below the surface.

Conditions were highly localized and variable throughout the travel in Cardiac. I would be breaking trail, wallowing in facets, and 2 steps later I would be unable to punch through a super strong crust just beneath the 2-5" of fresh storm snow. Then a few steps later, I'd be back to wallowing in facets down to my thighs, even with skis on. Oddly, these conditions didn't seem to follow any trend of aspect, elevation, slope angle, etc. I tried to make observations about what could cause the stark changes based on undulations in the snow that would see micro slopes get more sun exposure, but no trends were observed that would point to the reason for the variability