There were lots of signs of instability around Bijoux and Mount West today. The day was warm and stormy with temps hovering around 0ºC at treeline (+2ºC in the parking lot) and it snowed steadily throughout the day. We saw plenty of shooting cracks on any sharp rollovers in the open. The new snow was especially reactive in the lee areas where the strong, southerly winds had deposited more snow. There were also some fresh avalanches around the Pine Bowl. The storm had piled up about 30 cm of new snow and it kept falling all day which meant the persistent weak layer of facets over a crust from early February is now down about 70 cm. We gave any large, open slopes a wide berth and decided to work from Skinny Ridge to Mount West through the trees rather than the usual way over the top. There were plenty of awesome spots where the new snow was piled deep and we broke trail up Bijoux and down Mt West.
