Strong, steady wind all night but with only light snow and staying quite mild. Past 24 hours has 5″ new snow and water 0.37″. Wind letting up slightly towards sunrise and snow picking up a bit.  No visibility, currently 22ºF.  Good snow transport from the wind.

-Billy Barr

No signs of instability aside from small pocket in Way Long.  No cracking, No Collapses.  No sluffs even!  Will be interesting to see in days to come if slab becomes more reactive as slab consolidates…test pit in shade of Knob Steep produced no results in ECT.

Observer: Donny Roth
Date: 2014-12-15
Location: Schuylkill Ridge
Elevation: 9000′ to 11,422′
Aspect: E to NE

Weather: Clear, Calm and 15 to 20F

Snowpack/Avalanche Obs: HS 90cm (max), Ski Pen 20 to 30 cm (off skin track), Boot Pen 70cm, 15 to 20 cm of new snow, very low density, mostly in tact dendrites, the mid-pack is stiffer in isolated areas but mostly the snowpack was new snow on top of facets.  First run in “Thanksgiving” produced significant sloughing, which slowed as angle of slope decreased – it didn’t go far.  Second run on “Lost Ski” (?) didn’t produce any activity at all.  The lower slopes (below 10,000′) seemed to be the “slabbiest” – obviously a product of down valley winds.

Observer: Ross (Irwin Guides)
Date: 12/14/14
Location: Red Lady Glades
Elevation: 12400-9400
Aspect: SW

Weather: Overcast ovc, snowing lightly S1 in the morning. S2 afternoon. Moderate winds from the W.

Snowpack/Avalanche Obs: From the Emmons summit we skied towards Evans basin on a thin wind blown surface. 10 to 20cm deep. on a mixture of wind a sun crusts. In the shaded timber 15-20cm of new snow lays on a facet base and in the sunny areas the new snow rests on sun crusts. No activity seen throughout the day from ski cuts and no results from hand sheers. Not enough snow for CT or ECT’s

Name: Irwin Snow Cat Operation
Location: Irwin
Date of Observation: 12/14/2014

South: New snow not slabbed up and bonding well to Dec 13 crust.  A few small sluffs from steeper entrances running within the top of the new snow and not entraining the snow on the crust.  Where new snow is on top of old facets (in the shade) not as good bonding seen with a few quick hand shears.

West: 13:30 – Starting to slab up a little bit, a few cracks only going 5-8’ in front of skis and only 15cm down. No significant signs of instability or avalanches.

Name: Avalanche level 1 class
Location: Wolverine Glade
Elevation: 9,000-10,700
Aspect: NE

Weather: Mostly cloudy with some flurries (S-1) through the day. Light to moderate WNW winds were strong enough to drift the new snow. Cold temps.

Snowpack: 2″ of new snow and still not a slab problem to be found at these elevations. The snowpack is completely rotten and in poor shape. Small loose snow avalanches were the only problem on high 30 degree terrain.

Name: Level 1 Avalanche Class
Date of Observation: 12/13/2014
Aspect: North East, East, Southwest
Elevation: BTL

Weather: Few clouds midday becoming overcast in the afternoon. Calm winds and warm temps. Gusty winds and and S-1 grapple started around sunset.

Snowpack: We were hunting slabs in the area and the slabs where all faceted out. One group did find a 4f-1f midpack on an isolated wind roll. Otherwise on NE/E aspects the HS was about 40cm on average and all facets. In the bottom 2/3 of the snowpack the 1-4mm facets have gained some strength and are 4f- in hardness. SW aspects consisted of a thick crust over F hard facets. On all aspects toured SH was living large unless it was on steep enough southern aspects to be melted by the sun.

Name: Irwin Guides (CBMG)
Location: Red Lady Glades
Elevation: 9200-1200
Aspect: SW
Weather: Sunny blue bird, no wind or precip

Snowpack/Avalanche Obs: Snow at lower elevations is a mixed bag of melt freeze sun crust and powdery snow ranging in depth from 10-20cm. One collapse was observed at 12000 at the goal posts. No instabilities seen. The glades have a sun crust on W and south facing slopes that moistened throughout the day. Shaded areas have powdery snow. Variable depth of snow averaging at about 30cm at mid to upper elevations. Surface hoar in shaded areas. Thin pack towards the bottom.