>>473002It's a loupe, for looking at snow structure and crystal size.
Faceted grains ("sugar snow") looks like hollow square pyramids. They don't really bond to anything, won't pack into a snowball like rounds will, and can form a lovely "ball bearing"-like surface for a slab to cruise down the mountain on when that snow's buried deeper in the snowpack.
Looking at the snow crystals can tell you a lot about the weather, and give you insight to how reactive the layers are.
