Newberry Crater

I was surprised that I didn't find more loose wet avalanche activity today. My suspicion is that even with the warm ambient air temperatures, the January sun is too weak to produce loose wet activity on Paulina Peak's shaded aspects. On solar aspects, I observed some roller balls and pinwheels, but I did not see any recent avalanches while I was out there today. However, with continued sun and warm temperatures, I wouldn't rule this problem out yet. 

I observed some roller balls and small pinwheels on solar aspects, but I did not observe any avalanche activity.

The snowpack varied widely by aspect and elevation at Newberry Crater today. Near Paulina Peak, shaded aspects were still holding cold, dry snow, some of which was wind effected or crusty if it was under trees. Solar aspects were getting mushy. I took a bunch of snow depth measurements on multiple aspects around 7400'-8000' and consistently found about a meter of snow on the ground. I checked out some of the bowls and typical avalanche run out paths, and they look pretty rocky; I was not tempted to ski down there. I dug on a NW aspect at 7800' and did not find any notable weak layers.

Lower elevations were similar, though the snow depth is thin in the trees and some south faces across the lake showed bare dirt. There was a layer of surface hoar on the snow near the lake. 

Overall, shaded glades up high skied nicely. The snowmobile roads from Ten Mile Sno-park are still in, though the snow is getting thin around the sno-park.