Anthracite Mesa West

Terrain on the south side of the compass without wind drifting appears low risk, with about a foot of recent snow resting above a strong lower snowpack.  As you transition to westerly aspects, a thinner crust caps the very weak February drought layer.  This structure is currently holding the load above reasonably well, but I couldn't rule out a slab avalanche on a west slope at the upper elevations of the below treeline elevation band.  This structure will struggle as the next loading event arrives next week.  The February drought weak layer looks exceptionally poor, and modest loads next week may tip the scales towards natural avalanche activity and easy-to-trigger conditions.  

We produced 3 large collapses on low-angle west slopes above 10,200 feet. The crust beneath the foot of recent snow was around 1cm or less....more similar to steep terrain near the border of west - northwest. No signs of instability on steep slopes facing due west below treeline.

On a southwest slope near 11,000 feet, I found very little drifting and a foot of recent storm snow resting above melt forms to the ground.  No slab avalanche issues encountered in this area.

On westerly slopes below treeline, a 2cm crust caps the incredibly weak facets from the February drought.  Test results showed propagating results occurred below the crust during isolation or light loading steps. However, we didn't experience any collapsing while skiing or skinning up terrain near or steeper than 35 degrees.  This structure seems to sit just on the stable side of the equation.  I would expect that another .75 inches of water would create a sensitive slab avalanche problem and natural avalanche activity to follow as future storm totals near or exceed 1" of water.