Observation: Mirror Lake Highway

Beautiful day, and great riding conditions. We headed out today to check out the snow surface conditions, and the primary concern of wind-drifted snow. Over the past two days, the storm refreshed the riding, but the winds did seem to make a bit of an impact. Throughout the day, winds remained generally light but drifting was observed along the highest peaks and ridgelines. Directly below ridgelines, like that of Haystack, there was obvious texture from the wind and some signs of recent avalanche activity that has been drifted in. As well the cornices continue to grow in size. While riding we did not observe any obvious red flags and were unable to get any cracking, collapsing, or movement when riding on steeper slopes. When digging hasty pits, the upper 10-12" of the snowpack was consistently firmer, and acted as a more cohesive slab, but I was unable to get any results on this layer. That being said, I think you might still be able to find a lingering small pocket of wind-drifted snow in extreme terrain features at upper-elevations. Overall though, once you left the wind zone the overall danger seemed generally low.

The quick-hitting storm provided anywhere from 8-10" to the range. In most areas that we traveled today, the snow had already been impacted by the wind. With obvious texture, even down at lower elevations and on the lakes. Within the trees, the riding was still low-density powder.