Rain and warm temperatures have created a stout crust at treeline and below that will have the snowpack pretty well locked together today. Above 7,000' there still remains the possibility to trigger isolated pockets of windslab in leeward locations.
Tuesday and Wednesday brought heavy snow and crazy winds to the mountains. Most of the avalanche terrain below 7,000' shed the new snow as warm temperatures caused a transition to rain. Above this elevation I would stay alert to isolated pockets of dense windslabs lurking on north and east aspects. These slabs will be stubborn to trigger and will become less reactive with each passing day.
Our last weather system was pandelirium!! Heavy snow, gnarly winds and a transition to rain at elevations up to 7,000". Our observations in the East Cabinets yesterday revealed a widespread natural avalanche cycle that ran on all aspects with numerous slide paths running close to drainage bottoms. Many of the slides appeared to have started in the upper layer of storm snow with fairly thin crowns that propagated wide and far, some of these stepped down to bed surface as the gained steam going down. Our new crust layer will have the snowpack pretty well locked together below the 7,000' mark. It doesn't make for enjoyable riding; but, it's pretty darn stable at the moment. Moving above this elevation you will likely find the slopes to be crusty and hammered by wind in exposed locations and littered with dense slabs in more protected areas. If you are determined to go out I would recommend bringing a saw as the blowdown out there is pretty horrendous at the moment.
