Weird bright thing in the sky all day. Calm except on Pastoral ridge.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Pastoral/Sunburst
Taylor pass to mellow lap on Pastoral shoulder and then a couple on Sunburst. Good stability. Few very small (snowboard length) isolated windslabs on small loaded convexities in the basin on north side of Pastoral. 2-6 inches deep. NW winds on Pastoral ridge (15 G25) and lots of new snow were quickly loading the SE face of Pastoral we had hoped to ski. No instabilities noted on Sunburst. Very minor sun effect by 4 pm.
Weather
Snow surface
Soft and surfy.
Snowpack
Did a couple hand shear tests on Pastoral side of Taylor pass. Found 2 layers of buried surface hoar, 15 and 40 cm down. Surprised it had survived the wind where it was located relative to Taylor pass. Cleanly sheared with easy to moderate force. Intentionally kicked off tiny wind slabs on loaded test slopes (W/NW). See pic.
Tiny windslab
NW winds on Pastoral ridge