Quick report
Afternoon tour in Deep Creek with ~6” of new snow at the trailhead, up to a foot near the ridge @ 7800’. Skies were cloudy with light snow showers for most of the tour, with a heavier burst of snow 3-4pm. Light winds. Open slopes seem to have gotten some sun this morning, developing a soft 2” crust and more density in the new storm snow. Snow in steeper shaded north aspects remained cold & dry. There were obvious density changes within the recent storm snow, but we didn’t see any cracking or collapsing during 2 laps. Dropping a small cornice onto a north facing test slope below the summit ridge triggered a small medium-loose slide. 2” of new snow accumulated on our car in the 3 hours we were out.
Avalanche
Kicked a mini-fridge sized cornice chunk onto a small test slope below the summit ridge. It triggered a small “medium loose” slide (between dry and wet) that entrained the top 8-10” of storm snow, but no cracking or slab release.