At 8800' on a true East aspect I was finding the weak facet layer sitting between 30-35 cm with a pack depth of 60 cm. Temperatures throughout the pack were uniform from top to bottom. Here I got ECTN16 on that weak layer which is similar to the obs in this area over the last couple of days, but I was not getting the propagation others were reporting. Just out of curiosity I dug a pit on a small 32 degree NE aspect just above my other pit at 8900’ where a bunch of skiers had been funneled through and had fully compacted the surface snow. I would not normally dig in a spot like this but was thinking of the challenges the resorts have in getting terrain open that has had to remain closed where they normally rely on skier compaction as part of the early season mitigation process. Naturally the depth of the pack here was less at 50 cm given the surface compaction, but here the facets sat on the ground (rocky area) and went up to 25 cm with another 25 cm of compacted snow on top, versus seeing the weak layer in the middle of the pack in other pits from the area. Here I got ECTX, but an easy Q1 shovel shear at 25cm on top of the facets. I doubt the skier compaction changed the make-up towards the bottom snow pack, but the easy shovel shear in a spot so well skied it looked like ‘in resort’ snow got my attention.

By 1:00 PM the heat caught me off guard. Not used to needing skin wax this time of year, but I could have used it today.