Photos below as follows:

Planar bed surface where ECT failed (ECTP11)

Faceted grains on which pit tests failed.

Surface facets.

Thin snowpack conditions exist in the western Uintas. Upper elevation slopes have enough snow to ski and ride, mid elevation is pretty bony and low elevation slopes have little to no snow. With only 2 feet of snow, the upper elevation terrain still has plenty of hidden obstacles to deal with.

Lots of audible collapsing in my travels today. The bottom foot of the pack consists of unconsolidated faceted grains that fell out of the pit wall as I was digging. Extended column tests failed cleanly with easy/moderate effort and consistently propagated a facture across the column (ECTP11). My tests were failing on 2mm faceted grains just above a decomposing crust, 35 cms (14") down. This persistent weakness is not going away anytime soon and will be something we'll have to deal with for a while. Slopes 30° and steeper on the north half of the compass and east facing slopes should be considered suspect. As more water weight is added to the snowpack this weak layer is going to come alive. I'll be keeping slope angles down and very aware of slopes that are above me as I travel.