Cowboy Mtn, Stevens Pass sidecountry

A soggy day that called for multiple layers of gore-tex. The snowpack is saturated, though somewhat supportive. I saw recent wet avalanches from the past 48hrs.

The snowpack is saturated. Many slopes are melted out, shallow, and show significant effects of recent rain. 

The upper 1 meter of the snowpack is wet to moist, and most layers have been significantly transformed to melt forms. From a single profile at 5,350ft, NW I didn't see much concern about ongoing wet avalanches other than lots of wet snow. Boot penetration was 25cm. Water appears to be draining out of the snowpack, and there were no obvious weak layers where water is currently pooling.
 However, a weak layer of large melt forms, 100cm below the surface, could be the source of lingering wet instability and large wet avalanches. At this location, the layer was 4F+ to 1F hard and capped by 20-40cm of P hard layers. This structure has been found in other locations over the past 2 weeks and appears to exist independently of aspect and elevation.