montana trees kokanee ridge

We dug a fat pit on a sunny aspect 35 degree slope in an opening around treeline (we sadly didn't have an altimeter or compass) in the Revelstoke mountain resort sidecountry. The snowpack was about 160cm deep. We saw the buried weak layer 60cm below the recent storm slab. The recent storm slab didn't propagate in an extended column test. On a compression test it broke at the 4th tap from the elbow. Even jumping over the pit wouldn't trigger the buried weak layer. The bottom of the snowpack had at least 20cm inches of depth hoar. Got some fun turns in the trees and in a tracked out mellow couloir that led to a small bowl where the untouched recent storm snow felt consolidated.