Upside down storm snow and deep facets

Pic 1: Signs of settlement throughout the area, but digging below the surface, walking on foot, and trenching the track all showed a lower density layer remained below the surface.

Pic 2: Graupel at the interface between the lower density snow under higher density snow. Failure layer for an ECTP down 35cm at 8700ft N aspect. This was below steeper terrain, right where graupel would be expected to accumulate during a high wind storm. Facets observed 60cm down at this location, but ECT did not trigger them.

Video: Over a meter of storm snow on top of the facets. ECT did not propagate here - not even on the storm snow density change which itself was quite deep. PST would have been more appropriate, but I chose to use my time looking at more locations instead of focusing on one. Facets found down 60-120cm throughout this area. Numerous test slopes hit hard without even a shooting crack - spooky, because they consistently had "upside down" storm snow on top of facets. Important note about test slopes in this area: They all have concave shapes rather than convex; so have good compressive support. This, combined with a thick and high density slab, could explain our lack of results on test slopes.

SW winds were Moderate with occasional Strong gusts, and active wind transport was observed on exposed features, though high density surface snow minimized the snow available for transport.