Cement Creek

The Thanksgiving storm produced fewer natural avalanches than areas closer to Crested Butte and the avalanche size was smaller.  The Thanksgiving slab is soft in sheltered areas and did not produce signs of instability in tests or while snowmobiling.  I suspect you could trigger a slab in sheltered areas, but it wouldn't propagate all that far.  Near and above treeline slopes, with thicker and stiffer slabs, have enough strength to communicate failures and produce large avalanches.  There is just enough snow overall and support for snowmobiling off-trail.

I covered a lot of untraveled terrain on snowmobile and didn't notice any collapsing or cracking. I could have missed subtle collapses while riding.

Snowpack depth along the Cement Creek corridor ranged from about 50cm to 90cm in sheltered terrain, notably shallower than areas to the west and north of CB.  Settled Thanksgiving storm totals ranged from about 38 to 55 cm.  In sheltered areas, the Thanksgiving slab is mostly fist hard with a small amount of 4-finger hardness at the bottom.  The slab is losing strength due to faceting.  I performed ECTs at two sites below treeline on westerly aspects, and both produced N results with slab fractures.  On a previously drifted NE slope, I found hard propagating test results (see images).

Snow surfaces along the exposed Reno Ridge remained soft with little wind effect since the storm.  Warmer temps, above the inversion, and solar radiation moistened snow surfaces on sunny slopes.