Date of Observation: 01/14/2017
Name: Peter Innes
Aspect: North East, South West
Elevation: 10,000′
Avalanches: None. Some buried debris faintly visible on E apron of Gothic Mt, but have not seen any obvious crowns.
Weather: Light snow tapering to overcast w/ some brief cloud breaks causing gloppy snow
Snowpack: SW aspect BTL (10,000′), 25º, above Gothic townsite: HS 200cm, right side up, ECTN
NE aspect BTL 10,000′), 32º, on Snodgrass: HS 250cm, right side up, ECTN
No sign of buried surface hoar in either profile. Did not dig to ground but snowpack was quite uniform and showed solid structure in both cases, with about 20cm F hardness on top of 4F and 3F down to ~150cm depth (did not dig past this).
In the NE profile, aggressive shovel shear following ECTN caused slab failure 100cm down but was Q3 shear at best…this poor shear may have been due to difficulty isolating the column at that depth though.
No signs of instability in terrain traveled.