Microdot

Today's beautiful weather and great walk made up for the recent string of warm days, rain, and flat light that have left us all feeling a little sad. It felt like winter today and I'm glad it's back. What a great start to the season we've had to get our legs back under us, dial in the form and gear, and be ready for The Main Event. That said, we've still got an early-season snowpack with a lot of rocks, crusts, challenging climbing and riding conditions, and some isolated instabilities. The Persistent Slab problem we've been tracking seems to be trending towards becoming more stable due to the recent period of warm temperatures followed by the current cooling trend. Facets throughout the snowpack appear to be rounding, no new avalanches have been observed or triggered, and on the snow, we're experiencing less cracking and collapsing. That said, it's still hard to get into our most extreme terrain where this problem most likely exists. So while it might be becoming more stubborn or unreactive and isolated in nature, the structure still exists, and I wouldn't doubt a rider in extreme terrain could trigger a lingering pocket. 

Down, but not out. Over the past couple of weeks, periods of intense winds, seasonally warm temperatures, and limited accumulating new snow have done a number on the snowpack. What we have now is a variable array of crusts, firm wind slabs, scoured summer surface topped with a dusting of recent snow. The good news is that the period of warm temperatures followed by the current cooling trend seems to be working in our favor. Snow today was noticeably more supportable and less punchy, and snowpack tests indicated the Persistent Slab problem we've been tracking might be trending towards a lower hazard. In snow pits on both sunny and shady aspects at about 4500 ft on Microdot, we found a variety of crusts and wind slabs (like layers of an onion) that are sitting on a thicker mid-pack layer of facets. While test results on this layer indicated lingering instability and potential for propagation, overall we're seeing things moving in a positive direction. See pictures for details on both pits we dug.