The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Lovely Lucille, we are so happy to be back. The good: warm temperatures are helping to settle the snowpack. We enjoyed snowfall all day above 1600 m and easy travel conditions. The bad: the warm weather has turned the new snow into moist mashed potatoes with some firm tracks and old wind affect hidden beneath. Visibility was so poor it was a major limiting factor in our day. The ugly: while avalanche activity has slowed on the March 8 surface hoar, it is still a distinct layer in the snowpack that shows reactivity in some testing. This means that while it may be difficult to trigger this layer, it will have large consequences when it does.