Snowpack obs from Shirley Canyon

Overall, the low elevation terrain from our tour today (6200-7600') had better stability than expected. Cornices presented the main concern, there were numerous large cornices in the area. We were able to carefully kick off a large cornice piece with one kick. This did not initiate a slab failure, even though the load was large(photo#2). Additionally, we found very minor wind slab cracking in obviously loaded locations from a skier's kicks(photo#1). Otherwise, no signs of slab instability observed today. Settlement of the recent snow has begun, and was observable near trees by mid-morning (photo#3). Temps were warm and roller balls became an issue around 1pm on all aspects (photo #4).

A profile dug at 7550' on a north aspect found several minor weaknesses in the storm snow, as well as the buried surface hoar, although none of these layers showed obvious signs of instability or propagation. The surface hoar in this location was difficult to find and was showing signs of rounding (Photo #5)