Valley of Sin>Women's Run

Conditions observed in Valley of Sin were stale and stable. Our three-week drought period barely got broken by a meager 4" of snow at .3" of SWE. Not enough to overwhelm our poor structure, and the Pass looked just like you'd expect--a small amount of new snow over our existing winded--although faceting--surfaces. Luckily, forecasted gap winds never materialized in Hatcher today (despite ripping wind down in town), and so far, light, low-density snow is just sitting pleasantly on top of the snowpack. Ski conditions are variable, but I found out that on the way down I could at least drive an edge in and I was able to mostly ride on top of breakable crusts. A few slippery, slidey turns in between nice and soft ones--tune your edges.  

It may be possible to find a lingering soft, wind slab, in the right piece of protected terrain, although even these isolated ones are likely trending unreactive and loose. Pay attention, though--there is a decent, albeit small, amount of snow for transport. If winds were to pick up, we could have a new wind slab problem. 

The main snow and avalanche hazard observed today was dry loose, especially on northerly aspects, where loose, new snow and more faceted grains below sit on intact firm surfaces. However, there is an overall lack of a new snow+loose facet combo to make these big enough to get on the board (over D1) as an official avalanche problem. They are more likely to be a slip, fall and sliding hazard where loose snow sits on old, slick, firm surfaces. I had numerous spots on my tour where the surfaces below were impossible to get an edge in, and new snow on top made for slick conditions while breaking trail. 

I was able to trigger a small, soft, and shallow 4-6" wind slab in a pocket of previously wind drifted snow in a gully feature on the approach to Women's Run @ ~3,100' NNE . While it cracked and slid on a firm surface, this fist-hard pocket lacked consistency to break much wider than 8' and ran just about the same (see photo below). This was the only sign of instability on the tour. In previously wind-loaded terrain on the actual Women's Run saddle, a ski length of travel offered a totally different upper snowpack; at times it was dust on firm, slick old wind slab, others it was bottomless, drifted snow over facets. No cracking, collapsing here and this instability was truly isolated on this tour.

Snow surfaces were extremely variable on this tour:

• ~2-4" of light, new snow over facets in valley bottoms.
• 2" of snow over slick, impenetrable windboard. 
• New snow of varying depths over punchy, breakable windboard. 

Fair structure and good stability despite the presence of weak, faceted snow. ECTX (no results) 3,600' on a WNW aspect in 75 to 85cm of snow.