Bullion Basin

Even though the storm stopped for breakfast on Vashon Island and was late to the party, it was still quite stormy out there today!

The wind was moving a lot of snow in the morning hours, and the obvious signs were everywhere. Slopes were actively loading, and cornices were building in front of us. We stomped on a cornice that failed easily and triggered a small slab on the slope below. A stubborn slope angle allowed it to arrest in place.

That was the closest thing to an avalanche we observed, but visibility was poor. We triggered plenty of pockets of wind-drifted snow, even on primarily flat ridgelines and in drifts/pillows. We were actively avoiding most avalanche terrain and the start zones on multiple paths looked loaded and ready to release. Numerous slopes looked inviting, but you couldn't pay me enough to ski them today.

The snow was heavy and wet as we descended back to the car. If you were on a steep slope, you could probably push a wet avalanche.

Lots of cracking in wind-drifted snow. Textured surfaces, actively blowing snow, and large new drifts were all observed.

Several interstorm layers and older layers were highlighted with tilt tests, shear tests, and even compression tests. None of these layers showed an ability to propagate, and they did not have clean or sudden failures.

The exception is the weak snow I found sitting atop the EFC. It didn't fail in snowpack tests until I used my shovel like Thor's hammer on a deep tap test or until I yarded on my shovel to pull out the block of my ECT.

The lack of standard test results is encouraging. The fact that weak snow exists and when you finally get it to go, it fails cleanly is not so encouraging...