Spotty surface hoar in Finn creek/Groundhog East

Riding quality was:

Good

Snow conditions were:

• Powder
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Mellow slopes
• Open trees
• Sunny slopes

We stayed away from:

• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Cold
• Sunny

We went up Finn creek to Groundhog east today. Lots of previous wind effect on the exposed ridgetops and you could likely find small wind slabs if you went looking for them but they may be stubborn to trigger.

We were hunting for the recently reactive layer of surface hoar that was buried late January. We found it on both north and south aspects at treeline and upper elevations of below treeline. Where we looked, it was down 40-70 cm. but hard to spot in the profile wall and none of our snowpack tests produced any notable results. That said, the reactivity of this layer has varied greatly throughout the region and there are many locations, especially at treeline, that I would think twice before jumping into big terrain.