Upside Down Storm Snow and Buried Surface Hoar on Andesite

In sheltered below treeline areas, the most recent storm snow consisted of a heavy layer of wet snow on top of a lighter layer of storm snow. Some skier triggered cracking occurred when the lower lighter layer of snow failed to support a skier and the heavy snow above it. This heavier layer measured about 6 inches in depth in below treeline areas. Wet heavy snow from this storm and other recent storms existed in the top 2 ft of the snowpack. Below that level the snowpack remained cold and dry and at least 2 (Jan 9th and Jan. 13)  surface hoar layers were identifiable in compression tests. The Jan. 9th and Jan. 13th layers were about 100-110 cm down. Snowpit tests did not yield unstable results on these layers. However, a below treeline lower angle (30 -35 degree) slope had "shattered" but not slid. It is likely that this occurred in the last day or two, but we chose not to do a profile on this fracture since it was below and connected to a steep slope above it (@ the GPS coordinated attached to this ob).

Photo 1: Skier triggered crack resulting from the upside down snowpack on a steep (42 degree) test slope in below treeline terrain.