Hopin' for Open

The trauma from an Apgnars approach and egress several days prior led us on a search for relatively boosh-free riding. While we found some, the price was a relatively shallow and weak snowpack. 

• Drifts and scouring were more common above 6000 ft. Southwesterly slopes had been drifted and crossloaded by southwesterly winds (image). A northwesterly basin had been scoured and drifted by upslope northerly winds (image).
• The exposure to wind and sun (what sun?) has left a shallow snowpack on windward aspects, with a thin layer of moist faceted grains at the base. Although this layer was not reactive in tests and produced no cracks or collapses, we still chose to cross slopes near 30* one at a time (image) and chose a sheltered, northerly slope for the steep part of our descent. 
• Arctic temperatures are faceting the near-surface layers of the snowpack, especially in shallow areas near rocks and tree wells. A heavy load of storm snow on top of this may be more reactive than usual, though the layer isn't uniform in thickness and doesn't have a hard bed surface. 
• We found a weak interface about a foot below the surface similar to that described in recent obs; this layer was not reactive in a hasty profile (snowpack tab).
• Somewhat punchy skinning at times, due to wind-thickened snow and thin (<5 cm) wind crusts.

A coarse woody layer near the base of the snowpack was perhaps the day's biggest hazard.