Slate River - near trail head

I experienced multiple large collapses while traveling through low-elevation southerly terrain.  A thin layer of facets is present above a crust with 2-2.5 feet of recent snow resting above.  Poor snowpack structure is present on all aspects/elevations and poses a threat for human triggering or natural activity during periods of snowfall/drifting.  Poor visibility limited views, but I observed a few large natural avalanches that failed in the past 24 hours below treeline.

Cracking only traveled a short distance from ski tips and was far less common than day before (storm instability in upper snowpack appears to be mellowing out). In flat terrain, with obvious basal depth hoar, I experienced a few rumbling collapses. On steeper southerly terrain, collapses were loud but did not travel nearly as far as flat terrain.

I took several profiles on southerly terrain at low elevations.  I commonly found 60 to 80 cm of snow above the 1/5 interface.  The 1/5 interface was 1-1.5mm facets, with some small surface hoar, about 1.5cm thick sitting on top of a crust 3-5cm thick.  This structure produced moderate propagating results (see profile).

A second profile at the valley bottom on a northeast slope, adjacent to a recent natural avalanche, produced moderate propagating results.  Here I chose to dig in a spot where the slab was thinner and softer about 50cm thick over the 1/5 facets.

The very reactive storm slab problem from Sunday has quieted down with no propagating results in tests.