Quick report
Lots of rapid snow surface changes out at Gash today. Warm temps caused widespread roller balls (shaded) and some wet avalanches (East through South) below 7,500 feet starting around 11 am. By the end of the day, rain line had crept up between 7,000 and 7,500 feet. I would anticipate that the wet loose cycle will creep all the way up to ridge tops tomorrow/Sunday where snow is not very wind affected. The other factor was wind - it was very windy above about 6,500 feet, with strong sustained gusts transporting lots of snow. Most snow surfaces above about 7,000 feet were wind affected. Gusts were swirling, and wind seemed to be alternating between NW and SW. Snow from last week was in the 30 cm depth range. Slabs off the ridges were up to 80 cm in depth but were not reactive. I dug a pit around 7,000 feet in a relatively protected East facing slope along the normal approach to Gash proper. Test results were ECTN9 around 15 cm (last weeks storm snow), ECTN 22 around 40cm (I couldn't tell if this was the Feb 14th layer or something more recent). The Dry January layer was about 80 cm down and did not produce ECT results and did not break cleanly in shovel shear. I felt comfortable stepping into small pitches of avalanche terrain. Visibility was poor enough that I didn't get a good look around for recent avalanches. The only obvious natural activity today was wet snow related.