Tincan Common via standard uptrack
The glide crack is still present over the Seattle Ridge repeat offender avalanche path - see photo below.
Periods of moderate snow transport off high ridge lines in the vicinity
Some light snow transport from southwest winds on CFR ridge/Tincan Common high point
Temps in the 20s, Overcast skies with valley fog obscuring Tincan and views of neighboring peaks in the AM
A good window of broken skies mid afternoon... before clouds came back in when we left
Light South winds at and above treeline, transitioning to SW by mid afternoon
Moments of moderate SW winds at Tincan Common highpoint ridgeline
2-3" of new snow overnight, fairly low density at lower elevations, with ski penetration of ~6"
Yesterday's moist snow dried out overnight, leaving a very thin crust under this new snow up to 1200'
At and above treeline winds made the new snow denser, with 2-4" ski penetration
Hand shear tests along the route would break with easy to moderate force in wind stiffened locations, but often with an uneven interface.
No cracking or collapsing, even when breaking trail up the final pitch to the Tincan Common high point and when jumping on small wind loaded features. See below for data from two pits. At treeline, we found the new snow to be right side up, and not propagating in stability tests. Above treeline, we dug in a wind scoured location to evaluate the structure - specifically of potential weak layers above and below the New Years Crust - that may be present in isolated locations of the high alpine. Overall, the snowpack had poorer structure compared to areas with a thicker snowpack due to weaker faceted layers above and below the New Years Crust, but we found no propagating results in stability tests.
Wind transport off Pyramid during a window of mid-afternoon visibility
The Seattle Ridge glide crack after three days. While the photos look relatively the same, keep in mind how 10-12" of new snow has fallen during this time, and winds have likely filled in part of the crack.
Wind effect looking down the ridgeline from Tincan Common, with tracks from days prior still evident just below ridgeline.
Test results and structure for a pit near treeline.
This pit was dug ~200' below the Tincan Common high point on the CFR ridgeline, on a northerly shallow aspect. A second pit - dug 50' away - had 30cm less snow over the New Years Crust, with rounding facets that were slightly larger. The New Years Crust was also one thick layer at that location versus several thinner fragile crusts in this pit.
While some pockets of softer facets were present in between some of the New Years Crust, the only continuous weak layer in the pit above was found under the lowest part of the New Years Crust, where these 1 finger hardness .5-1mm rounding facets sat on a Pencil+ hard layer of rounds.
Also present in the pit above... a percolation column, from when the melt water from the New Years Crust seeped into the snowpack.