Observation: Days Fork

Travel today was Alta -> Upper Days -> Banana Days -> Days Draw -> Exit BCC. NW winds were evident in the morning, but diminished by mid-day. Performed stability tests on lots of obvious wind drifts and they were not reactive. These drifts were 4F/1F and up to 45 cms (18") thick. I imagine triggering any wind slab would not propagate widely.

(That said, we chose not to ski an obvious convex-shaped wind loaded slope in steep, upper elevation terrain where even a small slide would have carried you over a rock band.)

I was able to pull out a class 1 soft slab [15 cms (6") thick and 7 m (25') wide] skiing Banana Days. This was on a steep northerly aspect that was not wind-loaded, and failed within storm snow. This type of activity should continue to diminish.

Also able to trigger sluffing on steep (> 40 degrees) northerly aspects in wind-sheltered terrain where the snow at the surface is somewhat loose.

Did notice what I consider unusual loading patterns at the very top of the Hallway Couloir which descends From Days into Cardiff. Strong westerly winds worked around terrain features and drifted snow up slope, creating a large wind drift with a loading pattern I cannot recall.

Did find a fresh sensitive cornice at the top of Banana Days at 10500' that was easily dropped onto the slope below. Good evidence of a stable snowpack.

Avalanche concerns going forward are wet loose on solars as well as continued attention to monster cornices.

Strong westerly winds the past few days have both drifted  and scoured many mid and upper elevation aspects. Out of the wind-affected terrain, Sunday night/Monday storm snow is a dense 30 cm (12") layer that has bonded well to the old snow surface. We were able to get sluffing in the surface on steep, upper elevation northerly aspects.