Its cold but the skiing is good. Watch for wind affects where it converts the storm snow into a slab condition.
Weather Forecast
Saturday: mainly sunny, light to moderate alpine winds, frigid temperatures. Sunday: mixed clouds, light flurries, frigid temperatures. Monday: Scattered flurries and warming trend.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 30 cm of low density storm snow fell on Wednesday. Winds have yet to move it around. Low elevations it sits on a facetted thin snowpack. In tree line its on thicker supportive mid-pack. In wind exposed tree line and alpine areas, some very soft slab have formed on a variety of aspects. A buried a surface hoar layer from Jan 6 is lurking.
Avalanche Summary
Thursday's explosive control on low elevation targets released several size 2 slabs and loose snow avalanches. Natural activity was limited. Wind needs to firm up the snow into a slab. Fridays patrol was excellent visibility. Only a few size 2 soft slabs were noted from steep terrain. Sluffs up to size 2 out of extreme terrain were more prevelant.
Confidence
Due to the number and quality of field observations
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.