White Mountain area - West Brush Creek

Slab avalanche concerns persist in this area near 10,000 feet and above, where the Holiday slab remains intact.  The slabs below 10,000 feet are very soft and mostly faceted away.  Upper-elevation terrain and open areas are wind-hammered and dotted with hard slab deposits.  Triggering a hard slab looked possible, but it's hard to know where you might find the right spot.  Eroded areas were easy to spot and provided a way to move through the terrain, avoiding stiff slabs.    

From just below 10,000 feet to 11,200 feet, we experienced collapsing in most open areas, protected from last weeks gnarly wind event. Collapses radiated up to 100 feet and shot cracks across terrain features. Once in wind-hammered near/above treeline terrain the collapsing stopped. Collapsing did not occur below about 9800 feet - the snowpack has become a weak, faceted mess.

The snowpack in lower West Brush Creek below about 9800 feet is very weak, with boot penetration to the ground.  We did not experience collapses or cracking in this weak snowpack less than 80 cm deep.  Once we reached 10,000 feet, frequent collapses returned with a soft, 4-finger slab that transmitted failures through the snowpack.  Areas at upper elevations with extensive wind effects were quiet underfoot.  High terrain was either shallow and eroded or a hard slab structure in leeward locations.

Sunny slopes near and below treeline became moist to wet in the upper few inches of the snowpack and could have produced a loose avalanche.  Above treeline, a steep southeast slope I skied formed a very thin, zipper crust that skied surprisingly good after it refroze.  The influence of the sun and warm temperatures in this area was less than I expected.