Strength Gains near Hidden Peak

We made a tour plan with a goal of seeing if the weak layer that produced the widespread signs of instability (whumpfing and ECTP's) on Hidden Peak between 7,000' to 8,000' had changed since Jan 7. We approached over Rubicon to avoid the shallow, obstacle-laden snowpack below 7,200' on Hidden Peak. We descended to about 7500' and traversed over to Hidden. During our ascent of Rubicon, the descent to 7500', and the traverse over to Hidden, we did not experience any whumpfing or other signs of instability. As we cross back into more N facing terrain we probed and found the weak layer was present under about 2 feet of new snow. We collected snowpit data on a NE aspect just below 7,600' in below treeline terrain that was nearby to snowpit data from Jan 7. We saw evidence of rounding in the previously problematic facet layer buried 2 feet down at the base of the Jan 5-7 storm snow. Our snowpit test results indicated significant increases in snowpack stability (3xECTX and CTH-23 RP). One test (PST 29/100 END) result indicated that propagation along this layer remains likely if you could trigger it, which would be a challenging thing to do at this time. This PST result indicates that this layer warrants further monitoring for future loading events.

Up to 6 inches of new snow accumulated in this area today above about 7,800'. Snow quality improved with elevation. Below 7200' the snow became very wet and sticky. Some very, very minor cracking was noted within the new snow, but no significant storm slab instability was observed. Snow level seemed to between 6800' and 7200' for much of the day.