Early season coverage continues to impress me. Today we wanted to check out coverage in the drainage and have a look at the mid-elevation snowpack structure. We dug a snowpit at 8500' on a NE aspect. ECTP 13 failing 10 cm off the ground. Even at the mid elevations the old snow from before Thanksgiving continues to be reactive.

While ascending a small slope we experienced a large collapse on a due West aspect at 9000'. The collapse produced large shooting cracks roughly 50- 60 feet. The slope angle was 38 degrees. The photo below is of a quick handpit of the slopes snowpack structure. 10-15 cm of loose facets on the ground.