Quick report
- Collapsing
- widespread
The day dawned with warm temperatures and small amounts of moisture moved in and out in the early morning and cleared by mid-morning. Warm, wet snow existed at low to middle elevations with conditions changing dramatically above 8,000', where the snowpack got deeper and drier. Mountain weather remained stable into the afternoon. We traveled up to 10,000' and observed cold, dry snow in NW-N facing terrain. At middle elevations, a crust/facet combination that likely formed during the holiday storm cycles exists and is reactive and widespread. We experienced collapsing from ~7400'-8200' and diminished as we traveled into upper elevation terrain. Attention to route finding became critical with this layer present. In upper elevation southern alpine terrain, new slab development was minimal. Probing and frequent hand pits suggest the PWL's formed in early winter are healing and/or buried deep enough to be non-reactive to a skier. Did not observe instability where the snowpack was shallower and facing the sun. Terrain selection was a large part of our decision making process. We ascended in mostly low angle, easy to manage terrain, and descended in confined, steep terrain where avalanches occur naturally.