10 lakes

Famine, now feast. 

• 15-30 cm of very low-density new snow. Snow heights increased with elevation. 
• Above ~ 5000 feet, the new snow is sitting on even lower density recent snow, making for upside-down blower conditions. 
• No collapsing or shooting cracks, though the fresh snow may get more cohesive/ slabby as it settles.
• Knee-deep but relatively easy trailbreaking above 6000 feet. 
• A few fresh drifts down low, but calm conditions and almost no sign of wind effected snow. Lots of snow available for wind transport. 

We were surprised to see several fresh, large natural slab avalanches. 

• N, E, and W aspects at mid-elevation.
• 2-3.5 foot thick crowns. 
• Investigating one crown (which meant much less feasting) showed the slab was composed of sluff debris and did not appear to fail on a buried persistent weak layer. 
• One slide looked to be a soft slab involving the new and recent snow. 
• We also witnessed a small natural loose snow avalanche but did not see much evidence this was widespread. 
• We were not able to trigger sluffs that moved more than a few feet on a 35+ degree slope. The snow did, however, blow overhead with turns. 

Rec day ski. More media in the AM.

No collapsing in new or recent snow, short (< 1m) cracks immediately around skis while breaking trail. No slabs on test slopes. Some wrinkles on steep slopes where the new snow wanted to slab up and go.

In a profile on a north-facing slope at 6450 feet elevation and adjacent to a fresh hard slab avalanche, we found no concerning weak layers and had no propagation in our tests.

• HS 190 cm
• ~ 80 cm of snow sitting on most recent (12/23) MFcr.
• This crust is K hard. We found some rounding facets below this crust but they were not distinct.
• A second, thicker crust sits closer to the ground (12/7). The snow below this was slightly softer refrozen MF grains, with no distinct basal weak layer. 

At the crown of a fresh hard slab avalanche at 6650, the 12/23 MFcr is not as thick or hard. However, the snow above and below it is composed primarily of sluff debris with no prominent weak layers. The 12/7 crust also existed above the ground at this location.