Palace Butte

I skied up to Palace Butte today, and was somewhat surprised at the conditions. A pit on a south aspect at 9300’ had HS 150 and ECTX. The upper 85 cm of the snowpack seems to be bonded quite well, but I was able to pry my shovel at the column and get it to fail on some large, loose facets underlying a ~1 cm crust at 65 cm. Not sure if this is a widespread or trustworthy bridge in the snowpack, but I felt good skiing mellow trees nearby. This was the first positive observation I have had on this region’s snowpack, and I do not have much confidence in the overall picture quite yet.
While I was out, there were moderate winds on ridge lines, and localized areas with heavy wind-effect.