Poor Snowpack Structure

I was surprised to not have any collapsing today and I made sure to break some trail on a number of aspects. However, snowpack structure is quite weak in the old snow. I was curious how rotted out any old snow in high elevation S-SW aspects would be and was treated to a facet clinic. I got an ECTP 12 at 32 cm down from the surface on facets beneath the old freeze thaw crust. Although this is a reactive score, you would have to break through a stout Pencil crust to propagate on this layer which is poorly simulated by the ECT. However, in pole poking around, this crust is quite variable and you could probably still get it to break in a weak spot. For me, this speaks to the potential for slides in sheltered solar shots that held snow through our dry stretches. Many solars burned off so this is an isolated problem, but if you do find some tucked away steep south shots with old snow, you might go for a ride. Impressive facets for a SW face.