Partly sunny skies until around 2 pm when there was a period of overcast in our area. Light winds at upper elevations.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Tincan
Toured up to Tincan Common at about 3200′. Dug a few pits along the way to check on persistent weak layers and had mixed results in stability tests. At 2000′ on a S aspect we had propagation in one extended column test, which would indicate that larger avalanches are possible. However we did not see any recent avalanche activity while the sun was out so this might be more of a concern for the next time we get a significant snowfall.
Weather
Snow surface
Settled snow with some wind effected areas. On steeper south facing slopes there were surface crusts forming.
Snowpack
We dug two pits, one at 2000' on a S aspect and one at 3200' on a S aspect. In the first pit we had one test with propagation above the 2/5 layer and one test where we had no results (ECT P 20, ECT X). This is a bit confusing and has been par for the course over the past week or so as we have been tracking these layers. In both pits we identified several weak layers within the upper 2' of the snowpack but had no other significant test results.
Surprisingly sunny skies for most of the day which was forming sun crusts on steeper S facing terrain
The 2/5 facet layer had propagation in one out of three extended column tests
We found several weak layers in the upper snowpack at upper elevations but did not have unstable snowpit results.
Snowpack structure at 2100' on a S aspect