Conditions on Mt. Rose

Toured Mt. Rose today, skinning up the east ridge. Thin breakable crust on all aspects and elevations we traveled: S, E, and N from 7800 to 10000 ft. Snow was wet from yesterday's rain and fairly grabby at lower elevations and on S to E aspects, but the skiing was surprisingly good on N and NE aspects. Stepping out of the skin track resulted in boot-deep penetration with skis on, and knee to waist-deep post-holing without skis. Settlement cones and cracks were visible around trees. Light to moderate winds until we gained the ridge where there were moderate to strong S/SW winds. Variable clouds with periods of warm sun that affected south and east aspects. A few small rollerballs were visible on south aspects at lower elevations, although we saw 4 sets of ski tracks on the south-facing gullies that did not appear to have released any slough or rollers. 

Dug a pit on a wind-loaded 40-degree NE test slope at 10,000 feet. Total snow depth was 360cm. Our pit was 200cm deep and we did not observe the buried SH layer, though our pit was in a particularly deep location. 4-finger hardness for the top 20cm, then fairly consistent 1-finger the rest of the way down. *Slight* density change around 100cm, maybe a smidge softer than 1F.

ECTN results, with a 10cm break at 4 taps, a 10cm break below that at 12 taps, and a third 10cm break at 15 taps (i.e. breaks at 10cm, 20cm, and 30cm). All three were Q2 shear quality but no propagation, only collapse was directly under the shovel, and it took a bit of pressure to pull the slabs off the column.