Widespread buried Surface Hoar

Today we had a question that needed answering: What is the distribution of the surface hoar? We dug in 5 places on different aspects and elevations and the answer was, “Everywhere.” But the SH is small and you can’t see it in the pit wall. It is buried about 20-35 cm deep. It will need more weight on it to get it to go. If a person was not looking for it it would be hard to find without an ECTP or Q1 fracture. I’m worried about areas with a slightly beefier slab, like what we found in Henderson Bench yesterday. Propagation and human triggering seems possible in these spots, but they are few in number. We found some thin spots and felt the sled bog down in the facets, which is issue #2. Triggering avalanches from thinner areas is still on our radar and may be for most of the winter.