Today we went out to ski some powder on lower angle solar slopes and also look for instability around the storm interface to try to get a better picture of the significant controlled released and natural avalanches on similar aspects over the prior couple days. We dug in a couple locations in upper Snake Creek on and near Green Slope and found the same primary weakness, which Drew reported yesterday near Cardiff Peak; a very thin layer of faceted grains sandwiched between a solar crust from before the storm with rounded grains below it. The layer appeared to be fairly widespread on the South aspects we traveled and on a variety of slope angles, but in pits with lower slope angles (<26 degrees) the crust was predictably not as well developed as it was on slightly steeper terrain (due to the lesser amount of solar intake pre-storm as a product of low sun angle at this time of year).

In the pits we dug we had the following results:

On 25-26 deg S slope we had ECTN15, CT18 RP (down 30cm) Crust layer was 1F hardness

On 28-29 deg S slope we had ECTP21, ECTP15, ECTN18 (down 30cm) Crust layer was P+ hardness

I am guessing that the greater propagation propensity results we saw on the steeper tests are linked to greater overall connectivity of the overlaying slab, likely due to a more stout crust being present in those locations. I would assume that in areas that were there was further consolidation of the overlaying slab, as is in the case of areas with wind deposition, that stability problems are even more pronounced.