Sunshine Meadows area

Did an afternoon tour to Quartz/Larix area of Sunshine backcountry for some snow pit practice and a few turns. We found deeper-than-expected powder (up to 30 cm) on top of a mostly supportive midpack, making for good travel and skiing. Did shovel shear, column, and ECT tests at about 2350m on a W facing slope at 21 degrees with a depth of 80 to 100cm. Overall, we had a couple of easy (7+) results in the surface snow, several moderate results in the midpack (down 25 to 35 cm), and a couple of hard results with the deeper facets (down 70 cm). No significant movement of the blocks in any of the tests, and we could not detect any propagation with the ECT.