Cream Puff

Skinning up to 8,000' was arduous; the supportability of the snowpack bordered on isothermal (I was sinking to the ground on many aspects apart from due south aspects that held consolidated snow/crusts.) The temperature dip will alleviate that this week, but a more significant snowfall event over the weekend will build additional slabs on weak snow here. 

This is not your average spring. Transitioning towards a more stable spring snowpack will be very complex across all the zones given the continued snowfall and temperature swings. As we progress through March, I believe a first prolonged warming event will change the character of many of the persistent slab issues across the zones and make things very reactive (as we've seen in the past two weeks with sunny, clear skies following a snowfall event, and subsequent increase in activity). The later that transition from a dry to wet snowpack comes in the spring, the higher the sun, and the more extreme the effects can be.  This will be a spring to not let the guard down as we typically like to poke into higher elevation or more complex terrain. March can be a complicated month for this reason, and it will be worth watching this newest snowfall and giving it time to consolidate more. Multiple interfaces are being buried, along with the larger unknown that is the reactivity of the Feb. 18 layer found in the top meter of the snowpack and composed of crust/facets. Also, be head's up for increases in cornice activity; these can break much farther back than we expect, even on days without other avalanche activity.  

Weak snowpack that remains shallow (60 cm to 130 cm primarily composed of facets) up to 8000'. Slab of newest snowfall is around 40 cm deep. A mix of pit results but all reactive (ECTP 13, ECTP 20, and ECTPV) either at the old/new interface (crust found 40 cm below the snow surface), on facets at the ground, or on both. More snow and temperature fluxes towards the warmer will increase hazard here, as well as zones and locations with a similar pack structure (southern Wyo range by Mid Piney, Norther Wyo range around Jamb Creek/A Mountain, Togwotee, thinner areas of the Hoback,  lower elevation Tetons terrain)