Snowing moderately for most of the day up until 2pm, about 10 cm's new during the morning. Graupel for about an hour. No new avalanches observed but visibility was limited. winds were moderate out of the S/SW in valley bottom but decreased during the day. Very little transport observed on ridgetops by the time we could see. Ardous trail breaking. Hollow layer observed in the storm snow on approach seemed to be more evident from 5000-6000'. Above 6000' the localized collapsing was not as evident but still existed and appeared to be from more snow on top of hollow layer at higher elevations. Some localized collapsing while skinning but no shooting cracks observed. Pit near start zone of NE avalanche path. Less dense layers in storm snow from changing cystal formations seemed to be more pronounced then typical and were what was causing the collapsing and failures in test results.
We chose a conservative line down the edge of the path. Skiing was great.
