Observation Tamarack Peak Area

Touring up towards Tamarack Pk early this morning there was sufficient snow cover, but obstacles still abound.  We noted some short shooting cracks along the skin track but they seemed to be limited to the top layer of snow.  I dug a hasty pit to the ground (60cm) and found the top ~10cm of snow very ligtht and not bonded to the snow below. I did not see any TG snow.  With a column compression test the top layer failed immediately but there was no planar fracture and the remainder of column just compressed without fracture.