Broken Leg Buried Surface Hoar

Over the last several weeks I have been watching a weak layer of faceted grains about 60cm off of the ground become less and less reactive. This trip that layer was unreactive and did not fracture. Had to yank on it with the shovel to get it to split. Temperature gradients have been becoming weaker and weaker in the snowpack and maybe that layer has essentially healed. Unfortunately a new layer of buried surface hoar (photo) about 15cm below the surface fractures easily (CT8) and propagates (ECTP8). Skiing was limited to slopes <30deg and to windward aspects where only 6 inches of easy skiing snow covered the supportive crust.