Today we went to Mt. Stewart, where the Cutback AK block, AK Block, and Rutschblock all yielded moderately strong #5 (second harder jump) shears at Q3 (irregular, slow shears) on 37° on the faceted melt-freeze crust. The weak bond should have slid at a lower value, but our skis sank through the surface layers without putting much force into them, the slope angle was a bit flat, and the snow was wetting and settling when we did the tests. The structure rated 4 lemons (weak), the stress was moderately low, the energy was moderately high in the morning but rapidly becoming low, and the signs of instability were showing a similar steady decrease through the day.

Without more snow, this snowpack is unlikely to produce large avalanches. Rapid loading with new snow or rain may still change that, but a prolonged thaw like that forecast for the last part of the week should not have much additional effect.

These faceted melt-freeze grains were not perfect for recording, as they were already beginning to round in today's mild weather, but the characteristic sharp 120° angled corners are still visible on the large, otherwise rounded, fish egg shaped, melted and refrozen grains.

We do not yet have the stand or tripod we need to hold the camera steady so we get better depth of field at this large magnification. Look for better photos as we get the field setup dialed in for this lens.

A huge thanks to the Senator Kim Elton, Representative Beth Kerttula, and Representative Bruce Weyhrauch, who secured the legislative capital grant that allowed us to buy the equipment to take these photos and provide better information on a previously undocumented snow type that is a known killer in our region.