Variablity on Rubicon Peak

Snowpack depth between 7600' and 9000' ranged from 10-60 cm on the northerly aspects. The Dec. 7th facets remain widespread. In some areas on Rubicon, the snow above the facets continues to behave as a slab and in others it has weakened considerably. Some snowpit tests indicated that a person on top of the snowpack can break the Dec. 7th facet layer and that the resulting fracture can travel through the snowpack. Other tests indicated that fracture propagation has become unlikely. Often these contradicting tests would occur right next to each other on the same slope. Tests also indicated that fractures are more likely to start and propagate from areas where the snowpack is more shallow or from trigger points like shallowly buried rocks. Trying to find these trigger points on a snow covered open slope would quite difficult without a way to see through the snopwack.