Quick report
Found an overall deep snowpack all things considered for this season. The December drought layer (1/4) was buried 60-90cm(2-3 ft) on most slopes above 7500'. Found propagation on a south aspect with thin snowpack but it was moist to the ground. New to old snow interface is bonding well. Warm temperatures, broken cloud cover, light breeze out of the west. No recent avalanche activity, cracking or collapsing. This is the trend we like to see. Not out of the woods yet for the persistent slab problem, but it will certainly be more difficult to trigger in deeper zones such as here. Remember there's huge variability across this forecast zone.
Recent snow over last several days (taking into account wind drifted areas):
2-4" above 7000',
4-6" above 8000',
8-10" above 9000'
Snowpack
Checked the 1/4 weak layer reactivity and depth. Overall slab quality above this weak layer is hard (1F) and fairly thick except on southerly aspects. Snow depth drastically increases at 7000', especially on wind loaded terrain (N and E).
7100' ENE aspect HS: 130cm. 1/4 weak layer down 70cm
7600' ENE aspect HS: 150cm. ECTX. 1/4 weak layer down 110cm comprised of facets (2mm) and surface hoar (3mm, decomposing)
7900' S aspect HS: 80cm ECTP25 down 40cm on 1/4 weak layer on facets (1-2mm) and surface hoar (3mm) above a 5cm melt freeze crust. Snowpack was moist to the ground.
Above 8500' 1/4 weak layer buried over 90cm deep on most aspects.