Recent Avalanches

Wind Loading

Poor Snowpack Structure

South West Facing (248 degress) at 10,300' Patsy Marley Near Radio Repeater. I have been observing rounding facets buried at the ground in upper little cottonwood southernly facing terrain for the last two weeks . I was hoping it would not be the case after this recent storm. I went ahead and dug around and in my first pit found total snow depth at 135cm with the low density snow a top windslab / consolidated snowpack a top 15cm of rounding faceted snow. ECTX but please note the DT16. With the moderate failure in the deep tap test I was surprised. I dug two more hasty pits on my downward traverse off the slope. Note: same aspect at 10,200 and 10,150 both confirming the same loose unconsolidated snow buried at the ground. As I decreased in elevation the slab components seemed to dissipate but notably present in very large proximal areas. See picture below that shows 1F hardness above ground layer with fist hardness loose snow.