Poor snow structure on Saddle Peak

On the drive up we could see a wet slide from yesterday that occurred in Argentina bowl, human triggered. We also got a report of a wet slide in St Lawrence path in Truman Gulch (not big). We toured along the ridge to the summit of Saddle. By 1000 the snow was softening. We dug below the first cliff band and found 7' of snow, the bottom 2' consisting of weak facets. A Deep Tap Test showed a clean shear at this interface. An avalanche could be triggered by 3 ways: more load from snowfall or wet avalanche debris, melt-water percolating through the snowpack to the facets, or human triggering from a thin spot.

By 1100 the snow was getting wet and punchy at lower elevations. Loose wet slides could trigger dry slab avalanches, a proposition we did not want to hang around for.