UAS Level I course field trip, final day. Weather -3°C, overcast, snow 1 cm/hr, SE 0-15 m/sec, snow level 150m morning, rising to 250m in the afternoon. 20-30 cm new snow over the 5-10 cm of facets and surface hoar on icy crust from earlier in the week. New snow is fairly dense, not measured but estimated 140 kg/m3.

Very tender snowpack. Most test slopes fracture and produce mini-slabs, but areas where wind blew away the facets are much stronger. Cornices and drifts are very reactive.

No profiles were taken, but a number of tests yielded AK Block and Rutschblock values of #2 (first gentle loading) on slopes of only 25 - 30° on layers 20 - 30 cm deep, and tap compression test values of 1 - 5 taps (from the wrist) on a denser layer to about 10 - 15 cm below the surface, and 19 - 21 taps (from the elbow or shoulder) on the facet layer some 20 - 30 cm below the surface. Slab tests were #1 - 2, also very sensitive.

No natural releases were observed. There was no whoompfing or hollow sounds, but we noted settlement in many places and shooting cracks were abundant. There was recent heavy snow, no thaw currently but warming temperatures late in the day indicated that a thaw might be coming, and windloading was moderately heavy and increasing late in the day.

New snow, windloading, and rising rain level can be expected to trigger an avalanche cycle. Volume will be moderate but some slides could reach lower elevations due to the fast icy bed surface and low friction facet and surface hoar layer.