Island Alpine Guides had AST 1 groups out in the Mt Washington backcountry today.
The recent storm snow has been settling out with the last couple days' cool and dry conditions. We observed an average of 120-140cm snowpack depth on the ridgetop at 1450m.
Some isolated hard shears observed down 35cm. Mostly low density soft slab above that interface, with some isolated pockets of wind slab in exposed treeline locations.
No significant signs of instability observed today.
Early season conditions prevail in most locations visited today, but nice to see a more settled early season snowpack, setting us up well for more storms in the New Year!