Practice pit - any thoughts?

So after a few hrs in-bounds at Alpental, my buddy and I decided to dig a pit across the street - just for practice, when there was nothing at stake and all that...
Anyway, here are my thoughts and some pics. Was I right? Wrong? Somewhere in between? Can you even tell from a pic?

We saw 10cm of heavy (normal for WA) snow above 10cm of a very hard layer. This second layer was probably from the rain a few days ago. Underneath this there seemed to be a pocket of air or VERY un-bonded snow. (What would cause this, faceting from a cold, clear night??) Finally there was about 1m of very light (abnormal for WA) snow that would best be described as sugar. Below that was vegetation and about 1m more of snow in the vegetation. (We only dug about 1.5m)

My judgement? No Go - on this aspect, at least. It seemed like this heavy rainy-soaked layer would easily collapse the airy snow beneath and slide through the sugary snow below. Maybe even slide the whole 1m of snow down to the next heavy layer. Compression tests indicated failure at 1 from the shoulder (surprisingly stable) but a light non-ski step on an isolated rutchsblock failed immediately just below the rain-soaked layer.

Anyway, the first pic is the pit. The second and third is everything that EASILY dusted away in which the slab is clearly shown.

So, would that be a no-go for you guys? Or is it safer than I think?

Did you try any propagation tests?

Did you try any propagation tests?

No - I guess I'm unfamiliar. Like what?

Question: is that snow plowing debris in the snow? You mention being "across the street" from Alpental? Otherwise, interesting snow pit and good first attempt.

Underneath this there seemed to be a pocket of air or VERY un-bonded snow.  (What would cause this, faceting from a cold, clear night??)
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assuming your pit was dug today,

According to NWAC:

"There was surface hoar reported Sunday morning at
Hurricane Ridge, Crystal Mountain and Mt Hood Meadows and
this layer or the significant cold low density surface
snow will likely be a factor in the expected increase in
danger"

I would say good call on the no-go, or find something low angle with anchors. 
Did the rutsch fail on the initial step onto the block (RB2)?  
Also it would help to know the slope angle and aspect.

Question: is that snow plowing debris in the snow? You mention being "across the street" from Alpental? Otherwise, interesting snow pit and good first attempt.

Yea - I considered that it was snow plowing debris (and would be embarrassed if it were!!) but it was about 15yds, uphill from the street, and there was only one layer. I figured a snow plow wouldn't shoot that far and if it did there would be multiple cruddy layers.