East Saint Mary's
Quick report
This was a warm and very windy day. The snow I traveled through at down low and at middle elevations was wet and sloppy - I would not have wanted to encounter this on steep slopes. Up higher the entire landscape had been affected by extreme westerly winds. The wind slabs I encountered along the ridgeline were unreactive, but with buried weak layers in the snowpack I wasn't interested in jumping into big avalanche terrain.
No obvious signs of instability were observed in the dry snow I traveled through up high. Down low, the snow was saturated from the day's heat and previous rains.Weather
Extreme winds blowing out of the W. I estimate speeds averaged in the 40s-50s mph with gusts into the 70s to 80s mph when I turned around. It had spit rain as high as 7,500' the previous day, and I found a thin rain crust buried under an inch or so of wet dense snow. There was a freezing mist blowing through the air by the time I turned around, rime was quickly accumulating on me and my gear.
Snowpack
No digging today, just moving observations. The wind had run out of snow for transport by the time I arrived. There were thick, sticky wind drifts formed along ridgelines. I traveled through some of these, stomping and ski cutting, and could not produce any cracking or releasing of wind drifted snow.
Avalanche
None observed, but visibilty was poor up high.