Silver Star

We ski toured up to Silver Star and dug a pit at 6600'. From 3400' to 5000' all snow surfaces have been wetted. Close to 5k this was pretty fun corn. Above 5500' in shaded/ north aspects we found cold dry snow. Much of this was good skiing. Above about 7600' the snow is more wind effected. We didn't observe a current wind slab problem, but the 3/22 crust is slippery. We did see wet loose avalanches mostly in south and west facing terrain. A steady light to moderate north wind blew some cold snow onto south aspects. 

At the Silver Star Sno-Park there is no snow on the south facing side of the road up to about 5000'. On the north facing slopes, up towards Silver Star the dense snowpack starts close to 50cm and patchy. The snowpack gradually grows with elevation and is 2 to 3 meters deep and cold once you're above 6000'. We took a close look at the 3/22 crust. Lower down this is very thick. Above 6600' the crust is only about 2cm thick. We observed some small facets above this slippery crust, but we saw no critical signs of a wind slab on it. Generally we found the upper snow to be low density and lacking cohesion. This crust makes a great slippery surface for wet loose though. We observed small wet loose on south and west aspects between 5 and 6,000'. Looking at nearby peaks, it appears that upper elevations have not yet started to shed any wet type problems. Even south aspects above 6500' appeared smooth with fully intact cornices for now.