Laser, Elephant Mountain

Went up Blackmore creek early this morning to assess steeper terrain, with plans to ski the laser on Elephant Mountain. We decided to boot up the couloir in order to assess the snowpack as we ascended. Through he first quarter of the line we generally found a dense but very thin windslab/board on the surface, with relatively consistent snow beneath. Upon noticing an increase in density at 9350', we isolated a crude column (2' deep) with the handle of our ski pole. We tested this column, finding two clean fractures separating dense & cohesive slabs. The upper slab was approximately 8-10" thick, the one beneath about 3".
We retreated and skied back to the car.

In the pictures, the 3" thick slab can be clearly seen, the 8-10" slab at the top of the snowpack is toppled upside down, but had similar density and cohesion.