Quick report
It was a stormy morning in the Crystal Backcountry. Most groups were headed for East Peak and we broke trail up Bullion. There were two of us, and we took 2 laps, triggering 3 sizable dry loose on the shoulder of Bullion. Another party in the area skied at roughly the same time as us and they also triggered sizable dry loose. Together, the debris piles covered a portion of the skin track. Along the ridge, wind effect was more evident with new drifts, fresh cornices, and textured surfaces. Hand pits failed, but the new snow was soft - hard to call it much of a cohesive slab. Uptrack tests weren't anything to write home about.
New snow was easy to get moving while skiing.Weather
In and out of snow showers most of the morning, moderate at times. The wind was surprisingly mellow where we were compared to our expectations. Hard block by Rainier.
Snowpack
Not a lot changed since yesterday, except there's more snow out there. Mostly soft storm snow with wind-effect near ridgelines. As we got lower in the terrain, the snow was progressively heavier and more cohesive and that's where we started to trigger a few slabs.
N 5820':
CT7, ECTN6 down 24cm
CT22, ECTN17 (~3/4 of the block propagation) down 46cm
AR Crust down just over 100cm
Avalanche
We triggered a few D1 Dry Loose avalanches and 2-3 smaller slabs. The slabs were on small features. The dry loose ran far distances and even covered an uptrack.