Went to Peak 10420 (near Clayton Peak) yesterday via its east ridge from the Guardsman's Pass road. Around the 10,000' level I dug a north-facing pit just off the ridge low enough to be sheltered but upslope from the forest cover. Found fairly strong pencil-hard depth hoar, but a crust sandwiched by weak facets above that. Got a full fracture propagation at the top of this layer (see 2nd photo), but only with hard pulling and levering with the shovel from behind, not with tapping or pounding on the top. Strong snowpack at this spot. But enough uncertainty as to how representative it was of entire slopes I was interested in, and severe enough consequences should you hit a thin spot in the overlying bridge/slab and initiate a fracture in those weak facets, that I stuck to lower angles. I'm still trying to get the hang of this decision process. The lesson is next time I need to find a pit location with a better chance of being representative of the weakest spots of a slope.