Observation: Soldier Peak

Travel today was up Mill D north into Butler Fork to Soldier Pk or the Nipple which ever you prefer. Ended up breaking trail from Dog Lake on, the new storm snow in non-wind affected terrain didn't seem to be enough weight on it's own to cause avalanching, but as soon as you got into winded terrain you could easily note a slab sitting on light density snow underneath and in some spots it was sitting on buried surface facets or surface hoar. Quick hand pits like Greg Gagne was using yesterday was the best way to identify the storm slab on light density set up, many of these columns failed upon isolation, or with a little tap. I would not be comfortable skiing anything steep enough to avalanche with this type of set up. I would think this instability would settle out with a little time, the wind is the main player now, if it continues to blow and transport snow to leeward slopes it may continue to overload the fragile layer underneath. I'm not sure but I don't think the new load is enough to reactivate the PWL down by the ground, I'll guess we'll see when we get some decent visibility.

photo: is of the wind filling in our skin trail each time we used it. And the video is one of the many quick pits we dug in winded terrain.

There was around a foot of new snow in the Mill D, Butler area, a mixture of graupel and stellars made for medium density powder on all aspects.