Trapper's Chicken Fish

The easterly winds were howling up high today, transporting snow from north and east slopes onto lee south and westerly faces. At treeline the wind effect was less pronounced, although the best riding was still in sheltered lee slopes. The wind slab did not seem reactive at treeline but we suspect it's touchier in the alpine where the wind transport was intense at times. We dug a pit at 1420m on a southwest face at treeline and found a layer of surface hoar buried 20cm at the interface with the wind slab. We suspect that may make the layer more reactive than a typical wind slab problem. We saw no signs of new avalanches in the area.