Poking around in the shallower areas near town

Date of Observation: 01/15/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Various E to NE aspects below treeline near town, up to 10,400 ft.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Clear, cool, calm where we traveled. I could see blowing snow off of peaks near Paradise Divide this afternoon.
Snowpack: No signs of instability except shallow sluffing. Snow depths averaged 150 cm. On a steep, northeast aspect below treeline, a “deep tap” ECT produced propagating results on basal weak layers, suggesting propagation potential is still there if you can impact the weak layer. The weak layer does show signs of improvement compared to a pit in a similar location a week ago; grains are rounding, 2-3mm, and 4F- hard (compared to F hard and no apparent rounding last week). I hunted for shallow spots below treeline, and the only terrain feature with a thinner snowpack was a rocky face on which slab and weak layer are likely discontinuous. Ski cuts on that feature produced sluffing.