Snow Pits near Echo

We left the TH around 900am with CLR skies, calm wind, and increasing temperatures. By 10 am temperatures rose rapidly and sun affect was strong.  Surface crust was supportable on our whole ascent and surface snow conditions were variable and included scoured icy surfaces, melted wet snow, old wind affected snow, surface facets on north faces. We saw no evidence of natural rollerballs. 

Our Avy 2 Course dug 9 pits and found similarly stable results. 3 out of 10 Compression tests showed results on an old wind slab layer CT26 down 13 cm SP. Surface crust showerd faceting both above and below but is not a concern until we get snow on top of this crust