Unstable test results on graupel layer

At Indian Valley today, we witnessed a battle between cool NE winds and strong March sunshine. The NE winds kept air temps cool, but snow on sunny slopes became dense in the afternoon. Still, no signs of wet instabilities were observed. On our ride in along Blue Lakes Rd, I had clear views of numerous steep, wind loaded features without previous snowmobile tracks on them. The only recent avalanche activity observed was two natural small cornice failures on a NE facing portion of The Nipple (pic 1). On our way back from Indian Valley, most features had tracks on them and no resulting avalanche activity. 

At Indian Valley, I performed a test pit near the pin drop, and had two ECTs that propagated on a thin mix of graupel and softer snow under denser settled snow (pics 2 and 3 - in pic 2, the column propagated but did not displace during the test so I pulled on it with my shovel for the photo). I moved about 1/4 mile away and got matching results. After this, I did many mitt pits and hand shears, and found this same subtle mix of graupel and softer snow most prominent on cool slopes. On warmer slopes, the snow at this layer was getting moist and didn't produce clean hand shears. No other signs of instability were observed besides the four ECTPs and the clean hand shears.

While riding in trees, I noticed many settlement cones (pic 4). Snow on low angle treed slopes was getting heavy and grabby, with tree bombs falling in the afternoon. Steeper cool slopes still held great snow throughout the day.