Sunny, calm to no winds. Temperatures 20s warming to 31 degrees towards sunset.
Observation: Hatcher Pass
Location: Microdot Lower Slopes
Toured up up to shoulder of Microdot, no evidence of recent avalanche activity observed. Thin cover was encountered on descent with rocks near surface.
Weather
Snow surface
Low density snow, ski pen 25-30 cm.
Snowpack
Hand pit test on up track generally confirmed forecast and upper 30 cm of snow was not cohesive and did not break on any discernable surface. The only exception was a single wind affected feature on SW fact at ~3520' where hand shear occurred on Q3 plane ~30 cm down in snow pack with approx. 10-15 cm of firmer overlying snow.
Pit dug at 4210' on SW aspect on Microdot ridge.
Height of snow was between 160 and 215 cm. CT3Q3 down 20cm (~200 cm from base of snow) at interface within fist hard snow on what looked to be buried surface hoar. CT15Q3 down 45 (~175 cm from base of snow) at interface between fist and 4F snow. Coarse facets (>2 mm) observed in snowpack at ~90 cm from base of snow. ECTX result on same test pit location as well.