Snodgrass

On northerly slopes in this area, the density of the slab above the weak layer prevents signs of instability before you find a trigger point and release a large avalanche.  The structure looks poor, and I wouldn't want to step into consequential terrain with this unpredictable problem.  Sunny terrain below 11,000 feet softened nicely, but didn't appear to pose a loose avalanche problem on the slopes I looked at.

No signs of instability underfoot.

While traversing across the north side of Snodgrass, I didn't experience any signs of instability (almost no traffic in this area since last week's storm).  Between 10-11,000 feet the slab is typically around 20 inches thick (mostly 1 finger hard) with a melt/freeze/rain crust at the surface.  The weak layer remains notably softer than the slab above, but shows some signs of rounding under the loop.  A test profile at 10,600 feet produced moderate propagating results on a northeast aspect.  The unusually dense slab prevents signs of instability, but the structure remains poor and creates the opportunity for a surprise, large avalanche.

I briefly touched some southerly terrain below treeline and found 2-3 inches of wet snow above a supportive snowpack.  Wet Loose problems seem to be few and small with this structure.

I dropped below Gothic Road to investigate lower elevation northerly slopes and make sense of Wednesday's rain event.  The first feature I headed to failed naturally during the rain event.  While digging into the hangfire, I found two ice lenses in the middle of the slab and couldn't track meltwater below.  The large-grained facets at the bottom of the snowpack where the avalanche failed were moist, but I don't believe meltwater drained through.