Windy, Warmy, NewSnowy

Well, i guess its not news to say it was windy in the Pass today, but add the 5cm that fell overnight Wednesday=>Thursday and mention that it was Moderate to Strong wind, and thats a recipe for lots of wind-loading in the Alpine and Treeline … We couldn’t see much (refer back to comments about windy snow storm), but the few glimpses we had into steeper terrain revealed numerous Natural Size 1 Loose Dry avalanches and a few shallow Sz 1 storm slab releases. The day was overcast and warm, with zero degrees at midday at 1850 m, the snowpack depth (HS) there was 120 cm. The snowpack continues to keep us on our toes, with 70 cm of consolidating soft snow over the “January drought” facet crystals, which are still not strengthening … (aka foot-penetration to ground!).