Variable Results and Warming Snow on Stoney Ridge

We went to the low angle north-facing slopes of Stoney ridge to look for the Dec 11 facet layer. We could feel the crusts above it and the soft weak old snow below the crusts with our poles. We were expecting to trigger whumpfing in the openings, but we did not. Lacking those obvious signs of instability we turned to snowpit data and tests. We dug one pit on an open lower elevation slope and another pit near the top of the ridge. In both pits, we saw the old weak snow sitting below a crust at the base of the new snow. Snowpit tests targeting the facets yielded variable results with slightly more unstable results. Data seemed to indicate that the weak layer may be starting to adjust to its load a little bit in this area. 

The new snow showed signs of consolidation and settlement and the snowpack was quite supportable. Many areas under the trees had started to get crusty from snow melting off the trees. Warmer temperatures also had created warmer wetter snow on some of the more easterly aspects. On the more northerly aspects, the new snow remained soft and cold.