General Observations

Chilkat Pass Zone: 4,300′ NE-aspect mostly sunny air temp 10C light SW wind snowpack 100cm. Discovered the facet crust combo 80cm down where a 2cm pencil hard rain crust sits over 5cm of loose 2mm facets. Compression tests were easy with CT9&10 down 80cm sudden collapse fracture characteristics. The crust does the job of supporting the right-side-up snowpack above the facets until it fails. The bottom 20cm of snowpack consisted of another facet crust, less defined and hard re-frozen grains to the ground. We did get a settlement or two with whumphs near ridge line. The deep slab and spatial variability of the pass should always warrant careful assessment and safe traveling technique.