Went looking for a crust/facet layer that could produce avalnches. Dug in 4 places betwen 7000 and 8500 feet on S, E, N, & SE aspects. I found it on a south aspect at 7000 feet but it wasn't an issue here and only gave me a hint that I could find it at higher elevations. I was surprised that I couldn't find it on a higher SE aspect.

More importantly - UDOT forecasters found this layer just 3 miles south of where I was. They saw two recent soft slab avalanches on this layer on SE facing slopes between 9800 and 10,300 ft and got two big collapses - an obvious sign of instability.

Local ski guides also triggered an avalanche on this layer yesterday on a SE facing slope at 10,000 ft about 40 miles south.

My obs tell me two things (1) this layer is not widespread and a bit trcky to find, (2) perhaps I needed to go to higher elevations to find it.

Pit 1, south facing, 7000 ft, ECTN13 on facets about a foot deep under an ice crust

Pit 2, east facing, 7600 ft, ECTN10 on a layer of old snowflakes that were just a touch softer than other layers

Pit 3, north facing, 8400 ft, ECTX - no failures, right side up snowpack 275 cm deep

Pit 4, southeast facing, 8450 ft, ECTN11 about 16 inches deep on a softer layer of old snowflakes (I was surprised not to find an facet/crust layer here - should have looked harder or gone higher)

Photos below show impressive settlement cones