Stairstep

8" of snow and ~.5" of water today was not enough new snow to challenge our relatively healed snowpack structure and was a valuable add to our 2026 winter season. This was the first low elevation ski of the season for this forecaster that did not involve dry docking, rock hitting or willow smashing. Downright pleasant. Expect this new snow to be available to transport and prime density for building new wind slabs should forecasted winds manifest tonight and tomorrow. 

No noteworthy signs of instability were observed on our tour. Any cracking we experienced was confined to directly underfoot where new snow over breakable crusts below were crumbling as we uptracked. New snow was showing signs of sliding on our widespread buried melt-freeze crusts from the Sunday night freezing rain and pivot from the January Warmup (1/18-1/24) to this last snowstorm. With the warm taper, it is unlikely that this will turn into a Dry Loose avalanche problem, but it showed the potential to create small sluffs and entrain new snow today.

Light, new snow was bonding poorly to buried melt freeze crusts. These crusts were extremely variable, but were generally more stout on southerly aspects. We encountered a variety of breakable and brittle buried crusts and more stout supportive ones that served as a sliding surface for new, soft snow. 

Below these crusts, we saw some signs of faceting snow (weak and sugary). This interface is in the early stages of its development and with no new slabs on our travel day, we did not encounter any signs of instability on this layer, though it is the new one to watch. 

On the lower Stairstep below 3,000', we found a fairly strong and homogenous snowpack below--pole tests and hand pits indicated that the basal facet layer at the bottom of the snowpack had a chance to heal in the last week of warmth in this location.