Alex Lowe Peak

I toured out to Alex Lowe Peak today, and thought I’d share my observations. The wind was blowing fairly hard today, but was not transporting a great deal of snow anymore. I did not observe any natural activity, collapsing, or cracking, but there are some things to keep an eye on. A pit on an east aspect at 9500’ was 145cm deep, and an ECT failed at 12 on the new/old interface 15-20cm down. It would not propagate, and after 30 hits I tipped over the meter or so of column without it coming apart. The surface it bonded to is variable, though, so I would hesitate to make generalizations off of a single pit. 
Another observation worth noting is that standing in my snow pit, I sank pretty much to the ground in the weak, faceted, lower portion of the snowpack. I experienced this again stepping off my skis at 8200’ along south cottonwood creek, when I promptly sank to my thighs. I imagine some areas will react poorly to a substantial load, but that doesn’t seem to be in the forecast.