Observations from Indian Valley

Moderate NE winds were observed to be transporting snow throughout our ride today. I looked in several sheltered places and found buried surface hoar down 3-4". On more exposed terrain, I couldn't find it. Dec 11th facets were still observed to be quite weak in this area. The slab above them has become more supportable: We rode similar terrain as on Dec 28th, and today found much better traction and hit fewer obstacles, though aggressive moves could still sink tracks to the Dec 11th facets.

Photo: Checking for more Dec 11th facets after performing the ECT.

Video: Although I was finding the Dec 25th layer throughout the day, this was easily the most wind loaded area we traveled, and thus had the most cohesive snow on top of the Dec 25th layer.