Route today was Guardsman Rd to Park City ridgeline. Our primary concern was fresh wind drifts. Had considered the Monitors, but large cornices and recent winds made that a pretty easy decision to avoid. Instead headed to more sheltered No Name. No wind loading observed in this area, but these are at the elevations, aspects, and adjacent terrain that has had several recent persistent slab avalanches. Dug a few pits to evaluate the snowpack, and found the layer of faceted snow down about 50-60 cms (20-24") but could only get Q3 very poor quality shears. I have been finding this layer of preserved faceted snow throughout the central Wasatch, but it has not been reactive to any stability tests, and overall I have been finding a stable snowpack with this structure.

The structure that concerns me is preserved surface hoar on northerly aspects, as well as a layer of faceted snow sitting just above a crust on southwest and southeast aspects. These are primarily found below about 9500'

Had we found the structure of surface hoar or faceted snow above the crust, we would not have skied these slopes.

Sorry - no pictures or pit profiles.

One additional concern for Sunday will be wet loose.