Descended Sloth Ridge (just north of hells canyon) in the backcountryy north of Snowbasin. Dug 5 snowpits along the way looking for buried facets and/or surface hoar. Couldn't find any. Snow depths were consistently about a meter and a half. A little more higher and a little less lower. Pretty remarkable snowcover this winter.

Pit locations were:

8,000 ft, NW aspect

7,800 ft, NE aspect

7,600 ft, N aspect

7,200 ft, N aspect

6,700 ft, NE aspect

The last two storms were easy to see in snowpit walls and defined by very thin crusts. See photos below.

All Extended Column tests were ECTN (only broke under the shovel and did not crack across the whole column). They consistently broke at both storm interfaces with taps from the elbow. They were no concern, but they did indicate where freshly formed slabs of wind blown snow might fracture. They would break on deeper layers in the same way, but I stopped testing them to the ground because I wasn't concerned about deeper layers.

On slopes with no wind drifted snow and no buried persistent weak layers, the danger felt moderate but moving quickly towards low. In other areas, there are some buried persistent weak layers of small facets and surface hoar lurking in the middle of the snowpack. They a likely unreactive now but worth looking for in different areas because they could still produce an avalanche. I would be hunting for them.