Observation: Emigration Summit Area

Spooky avalanche conditions. Heard frequent "whoompfs" while breaking trail on the way up indicating collapsing, but it sounded far away. I didn't feel the collapsing, so possibly we were triggering it at some distance from us and therefore only hearing it. Dug a pit on a west-facing slope a few feet below the summit at ~8400ft. Snowpack density was actually very consistent until you got to an extremely weak layer that was about 3-4 inches from the ground. This layer was not supportable or cohesive at all. Performed a column test, and it failed on this layer after only two taps from the wrist!

Some wind scouring starting at about 8100 ft. The west/southwest-facing slopes we were on had been windward, and at the top there was some wind loading and cornices starting to form over the east/southeast-facing slopes. In addition to the persistent weak layer, this would be another concerning factor on leeward aspects.