Sherwins - Snowpack and conditions

Figured it was appropriate to get out this evening under the "Snow Full Moon", the name given to full moons in February by Native American traditions in February for the deep snowy conditions that this month typically is associated with.  Typically ... unfortunately not so much this year.  In any case, it was a beautiful, clear, all-be-it chilly night to do some moonlit pit-digging. Winds were very light out of the N mid-slope and moderate over the ridgetop, but not resulting in any snow transport here.  

No snow-pack stabliity concerns encountered, only some stretches of quite-firm skinning that ski crampons were useful for, and a patch-work mix of chatter and faceted surface snow.  

Dug a pit ~9,600' on a 37° steep NE facing slope.  Total snow depth was 165cm with lower 60cm of snowpack becoming firmer but still made of ~2mm facets with a couple decomposing yet still discernable crusts.  ECT and CT tests did not fail at all, however Deep Tap column test did fail on the top of the upper layer of facets with Q1 results at 22 taps.  Air temp here at 8pm was a chilly -14°C / 7°F.

Surface snow in shady sheltered terrain is becoming more and more faceted and softer with this long stretch of chilly clear nights we have been having, but the plethora of ski and snowboard tracks that have been accumulating since our last significant snowfall on Valentine's Eve have given quite a bit of firm chop to any of this type of terrain that is relatively easy to get to.