Quick report
Warm, sunnny day out there. Luckily, snow surfaces froze last night. We observed a variety of D1-1.5 wind slab and wet loose avalanches across a variety of aspects mainly in the upper elevations that occured the last several days of warming. Another group reported a larger D2 avalanche on Hoback peak within the last 24 hours. All these avalanches were on very steep slopes around rocks/cliffs or below cornices. We did not observed any new wet loose avalanches today despite the warm tempeartures. Cool breeze kept snow surfaces from destabilizing. Boot penetration never exceeded alarming amounts as the snow became wet 4-6" below the surface. Found decent snowpack structure in the top 50cm of the snowpack in the locations where we dug.
The snowmobile trail out of Horse Creek has good coverage and the groomer is still operating. Keep your eyes out as a rare wolverine sighting occured recently in this area.
Snowpack
Dug on a couple of south facing slopes in the middle and upper elevations throughout the day to investigate the affects of warming. During the peak heat of the day (15:00-16:00) only the top 10-15cm was full saturated and wet. I did not observe any significant changes in hardness (no more than one step 4F-1F) in the top 30cm. Two crusts in the top 30cm are rapidly decomposing. The snow around crusts had already gone isothermal during a previous warming period. Below the two crusts the snow had a uniform hard slab (1F) of dry snow until you hit the slightly softer basal facets near the ground. No percolation columns or significant free flowing water was observed.