Fair trade and free range

Swapped uptracks and route finding with friends for long, day-off explore. 

The snow structure was not inspiring. Except for short pitches with good runouts, we stuck to slopes less than 35 degrees.

• In a quick test profile, 2 large column tests failed with hard force, one propagating across the entire column (image).
• We heard and felt ~ a dozen audible collapses, mostly on southeasterly, mid- and upper-elevation slopes (image).
• We felt one rumbling collapse on a shaded, easterly slope with wind drifted snow. Cracks where the slab collapsed were visible 100 feet away. 
• The culprits are layers of faceted snow buried 6-18 inches deep and above the January crust, or sandwiched between 2 crusts from mid and late January. 
• On southerly slopes below about 6000 ft, the sun was turning the weekend's snow moist by midday, with rollerballs off steep rocks. 
• We saw no recent avalanches.