SW Gultch

Yesterday‘s rain/heat combo has left a widespread rain crust throughout this area. 3 cm thick and supportive to the snowmobile most of the time, but made for challenging conditions when breaking through. Moderate-strong west winds and light snow throughout the day. Snow was coming in dry and cold, and not bonding to the icy surface. Lee features in the valley showed little snow accumulation with not much in the way of slab properties. Wind slab likely forming in upper alpine start zones, poor visibility didn’t give us any good looks. Access from Pikes was in pretty good condition. A few wet bog holes in the lower trail, that just took a minute to get by or circumnavigate. but good going most of the way. Overall, the snow pack has decreased a fair bit, the extremes at lower elevations. No avalanches observed from yesterday’s weather, but limited visual observations today.