Date of Observation: 02/25/2016
Name: Zach Guy
Aspect: South, West
Elevation: 9,600-12,600 ft
Avalanches: Good views of a lot of the forecast zone today with no new avalanches observed.
Weather: Clear skies. Moderate NW wind in the morning eased to light by PM.
Snowpack: On South aspects N/ATL: The combination of thick upper crusts (~6″ thick) and faceting slab below made it difficult to find any kind of concerning PS structure. Crusts began to soften but remained supportable around 12:30 to 1:00, and were refreezing by 3:00.
On West aspects ATL: Probing around found some discontinuous pockets of lingering PS structure between faceted out slabs. Thin but supportive crusts on the surface (~1″ or so)
Start zones on NW aspects above treeline look mostly blown out down to dirt or bushes. Gulley features still holding enough snow to potentially have PS structure, but didn’t go onto any of those slopes.
No signs of instability observed.