Quick report
Temps were downright tropical at Anthony Lakes today - 42F in the parking lot! I travelled above Hoffer Lakes to the bowl below Lakes Lookout. The snow surface was heavily saturated with water throughout my tour and ski penetration ranged from 20-10cm's. Loose wet point releases were observed frequently on all aspects and easy to trigger. Some roller-balls were very large - greater than 1 foot in diameter. Active melting was occurring from trees and steep rocks throughout my tour. While traveling I utilized several small test slopes but observed no cracking or settling. I dug a snowpit at 7900' on a NE aspect and found 190-220cm's of snow. I observed an impressive temperature gradient, with temps of -8C a few feet (80cms) from the surface. The snow beneath the first foot (32cms) was generally very dense and well settled. During a compression test I observed a sudden planar result at 21 taps 32cm's down. This fracture appeared to initiate on a layer of well preserved stellars and decomposing grains. It did not fracture in an extended column test. Ski conditions were as you'd expect them in extremely warm temps, and I chose not to travel on slopes steeper than 30 degrees.
Avalanche
Very small (size 1) slab released on Gunsight Mountain at approximately 7600' on a northwest aspect in steep, unsupported terrain. Unknown age, debris appeared to have ran 200+ vertical feet through rock slabs/trees.