Progressive faceting on Incline Peak

I toured on Incline Peak today to assess the progression of faceting on NW-N-NE-E aspects in our shallow snowpack. The amount of faceting is clearly progressing in all shaded areas. In my pit, I noted faceted snow crystals at all heights within the snowpack with some chains of faceted crystals beginning to form.

In the vast majority of areas there was no slab overlying these facets due to wind protection below treeline and previous scouring by NE winds. I encountered one isolated area of cross loaded NW aspect terrain at treeline where there was a thin, 1 to 3 inch thick wind slab sitting on top of the facets. Traveling through this area I did not create any shooting cracks or other signs of instability. The slab just broke up underfoot. More load would be needed to create to a stability problem.

Overall the snowpack I traveled was faceted in any shaded area and undergoing very superficial melt-freeze in areas of full sun exposure. Snowpack height was consistently 1.5 to 2 feet deep in shaded areas and 1 foot or less in areas of open sun exposure on SE aspects. In the shaded, deeper snowpack areas, conditions were ski supportable with only about 4 inches of penetration. Steping off skis, my boot would penetrate to within a few inches of the ground due to the overall weakness of the shallow faceting snowpack. Lots of rocks to hit, be careful...