Quick report
Photo: very minor release on a northeast facing slope at 9500'
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>I went out after my forecast shift to ride snowmachines with some friends. My main objective was to look for recent wind slabs and see how widespread and sensitive they were. I covered lots of terrain from Guardsmans to Snake Creek and saw nothing very noteworthy. Many of the big slopes had been skied, snowboarded or climbed by snowmobilers without incident. I purposely started to ride into areas where I thought there might be a fresh wind slab to see if it would crack or release. I didn't find anything significant. I was able to get a very minor pocket to release which was no consequence to someone on a snow machine and would've been a minor consequence to skiers or snowboarders. Overall, I found fewer fresh wind slabs than anticipated. We were basically able to travel anywhere we wished without much concern of getting caught in an avalanche.</p>
Total snow depth since Thursday was around a foot of new snow. Some northerly aspects deeper, some southerly aspects a bit shallower. Powder was the predominant snow condition although some areas became damp which were either facing the sun or were at lower elevations.