Nothing to note here. I did explore off the skin track some and didn't feel any collapsing or cracking.
Observation: Summit
Location: Colorado
Started from the highway at 12:30pm. Went up with the goal of looking for the buried surface hoar and taking advantage of a little refresh in the summit area. I reached a high point of 2450′ and enjoyed some good turns in the meadows!
Observer Comments
Weather
High clouds with some small breaks of sunshine on surrounding peaks. The light was a bit too flat to look for recent avalanches on other peaks.
Snow surface
Settled powder on top...made for some good skiing. The wind has not had much effect on the recent snow, in the meadows at least.
Snowpack
I dug three quick pits while ascending and found buried surface hoar in all three pits! Being on the hunt for the BSH layer I only dug down three feet or so in each pit. At each location I did a column test to see if the BSH was reactive.
Each location showed results in a column test, I did not check for propagation of this layer.
Pit 1
1750' E aspect
HS:120cm
BSH present 20cm from surface
CT 12 on BSH 20cm from surface
Pit 2:
2050' E aspect
HS: 115cm
BSH present 15cm from surface
CT14 on BSH 15cm from surface
Pit 3
2350' N aspect
HS: 120cm
BSH present 20 cm from surface
CT12 on BSH
Pit 1. 1750' E aspect. Showing BSH visible about 20 cm from surface.
Pit 2. 2050' E aspect. I cleared out some of the BSH to show the layer more easily, the Christmas crust is visible.
Pit 3. 2350' N aspect. Showing the clean fracture of the CT test.
Pit 3. Showing the BSH in side profile. Could almost see through the pit wall in this location.