Ruby's south ridge (Super Couloir entrance), then second lap in Elk Creek.

Incoming storm snow will fall on a variety of mostly faceted surfaces. We found 1 to 2mm facets on most snow-covered terrain, including the top side of recently formed sun and wind crusts. Incoming storm snow will slide easily on the soon-to-be buried surfaces. As loads build from drifting and accumulated snowfall, avalanches could reawaken a dangerous Persistent Slab avalanche problem that fails below the heavily faceted Christmas rain crust.

In open terrain below Ruby Mountain, we found large-grained, cohesionless facets on snow-covered slopes facing north through east to south. Looking into the west-facing Super Couloir, the sunny side of the chute was glaze ice, hard, and still had a thin faceted surface on top. We did not expect to find such well-developed facets above the exceptionally hard wind-packed and suncrusted spots.

In Elk Creek we expected to find a cohesionless snowpack throughout. Instead, we found a still intact midpack slab above the faceted rain crust. Below the crust the facets are exceptionally weak. Storm Slab avalanches will run easily on the faceted snow surfaces, but as this weekend's storm loads over the rain crust accumulate, deeper and wider Persistent Slab avalanches may come back into play.