Over the last two days, I targeted mid and. upper elevation East aspects. Yesterday, near West Willow Ridge, I found a thick melt-freeze crust under new snow with no underlying facets (Observation HERE).
Today, conditions varied significantly. On a 98° (ESE) aspect, I found a 2-5cm crust capping weak facets. Notably, this pit contained hard percolation columns, yet the surrounding snow remained F-hard, 2mm angular facets rather than refrozen melt forms.
Elsewhere on East aspects, the most common structure was new snow over a thin (1-2cm) crust sitting on weak F-hard faceted snow, 2mm angular facets.
On a northeast-facing slope at 9903 feet I performed an ECT to test the propagation propensity of the new snow atop the layer of facets. In this location I had two, non-propagating failures. This continues to point to the fact that additional snow (either in the form of more snowfall, or wind loading) is needed to activate the Persistent Weak Layer of faceted snow. Higher snow totals have been recorded closer to Brighton and Deer Valley as well as further south in the Provo Forecast zone.
