Quick report
Travel today was West Porter, Thaynes Canyon, with an exit via Neffs Canyon. We found a few pockets of wind drifts up to 25 cms (10") thick from the southwest winds overnight that would crack out from skis, but the storm slab and wind drifts from Tuesday have settled out and were unreactive. The biggest concern for Friday will be any fresh wind drifts from the west/southwest winds.
Photos of
- recent soft slab avalanche on a northeast aspect at 8,600' in West Porter. This was probably a natural avalanche, which may have been triggered from a cornice fall
- reactive wind slab on north aspect at 9,000'
Outside of wind-affected terrain, the danger is drifting to Low. However, I snapped this photo as two of my regular touring partners crossed an avalanche slope one at a time: still keeping the travel protocol that only exposes one person at a time in avalanche terrain.
Where we traveled, the avalanche danger is Moderate on slopes that have been wind-drifted in the past 24 hours, and Low on other slopes.
Snowpack
Soft, dry snow can be found on upper elevation aspects facing east through northwest, although below about 8,500' there was some greenhousing today which may crust even the north aspects at the low and even some mid-elevation aspects.