Murphy/Squaw Divide

Rode to the Squaw/Murphy creek divide to track warming and deeper weak layers. As of 3pm, the top 4 inches of the snowpack was wet on a southwest facing slope at 8,300'. Water had not penetrated deeper into the snowpack. We observed very little in the way of significant wet avalanche activity. All wet loose activity was small (<D1) and near sunny cliff bands. There were some roller balls on shaded slopes but that was it. Dry snow could be found in sheltered north facing terrain down to 7,000'. 

We observed several old deep slab events in steep/rocky north facing terrain off of Star and Stuart Peak. Crown depths of these avalanches appeared to be upwards of 5'. We dug a pit on a NE facing slope at 8,300'. The total height of snow was 6.5' (201cm). The top 4.5' (140cm) was a hard, well bonded slab. The bottom 2' (60cm) was made up of facets from the December drought. These facets are showing signs of significant rounding. We performed a cross slope PST (same test but sideways) on the facet/slab interface (Jan 4). CPST 68/145 (End). Weak snow at the January 4th interface can still propagate a fracture, but it will take a massive trigger like a cornice fall or many feet of snow. Hundreds of snowmobile tracks in steep terrain without incident showcase the stubborn nature of this problem.