Butterfield

Weather: 1-2 inches of new snow. Winds were calm below 9000', they picked up to moderate with strong gusts from the west as we climbed above 9000'. Snowpack: Snowpack was generally 3-4 feet deep in this area. Stability generally feels good in wind sheltered areas, but I still don't totally trust 12/05 due to the relatively shallow snowpack, and poor structure. The Christmas crusts in the upper snowpack generally taper away somewhere around 8500'. We didn't see any cracking/collapsing associated with these crusts. 12/05 was our main concern in non-wind loaded terrain. We found very isolated, but reactive, windslabs in exposed upper elevations on terrain features with perfect orientation to west winds. We did not get any cracking/ collapsing in non-wind loaded terrain. We avoided terrain over 30* in windy areas that was substantial enough to produce large avalanches. We felt comfortable skiing small features into the low 30s* that were sheltered from the wind.