Shadow

Toured to 10,000’ on Shadow and traveled on all aspects of the compass. 4-6” of dense powder from the recent warm and windy storm existed on most slopes today. Wind affected snow and signs of loading were obvious above 9,000’ but we did not observe any cracking, collapsing, or reactive wind slabs where we traveled. Overall, the snow from the recent storms appears to be bonding and settling well in most terrain. However, isolated pockets of reactive wind slab likely still exist in some very steep upper elevation terrain. We found no concerning signs of deeper instabilities where we dug (see snowpack section). Surfaces moistened on solar slopes by noon with diffuse sunshine and warming temps. Increasing cloud cover kept wet snow problems in check today.

9700’ north facing. Height of snow is about 350 cm. High strength, decent structure, no propagation in the upper meter of the snowpack. Some loading here but down off the ridge a ways.