Snowpits at Lionhead

We rode to Ski Hill and dug 10-20 feet north of where it looked like an avalanche class had dug earlier this month. East aspect, 8,500'. Snow depth was 65-75 cm and we had an ECTP30 on the weakest, soft facets 20-30cm off the ground. Poor structure. We suspect this slope had been collapsed at least once from previous groups. Surface hoar was buried below the recent 6" of snow and was not reactive in tests, but pretty easy to see in the pit wall with large 1-2cm crystals above near surface facets.

We rode further up the ridge to "Marge" and dug on an east-northeast aspect. HS was 70-85cm and we had ECTP14 on weak depth hoar/facets 30cm off the ground. Also similar findings of non-reactive surface hoar below 6-7" of recent snow. Interestingly, we also easily found surface hoar in hand pits on more wind-loaded/exposed parts of the ridge and it seemed to break more easily here. This is noteworthy because wind-loaded slopes with buried surface hoar can be a deadly combination.

Calm and sunny today with some recent drifting of the new snow, but plenty of snow to be drifted into wind slabs still.