Avalanches: See photos. Observed 5 fresh natural soft slab avalanches on NE aspects N/ATL, and handful of minor sluffs or harmlessly small pockets.  Two of these larger slides appeared to be several feet deep failing on the 3/6 facet layer as persistent slabs, with wide propagation and the dust layer faintly visible on the bed surface.  One ran naturally sometime this morning.  Two were repeat offenders that ran 3/6, that appeared to fail at the storm interface.
Weather: Scattered to broken clouds. Mild temps. Moderate down-valley valley winds with moderate snow transport visible up high from the NW. No precip.
Snowpack: See video. Traveled on wind-sheltered N/NE aspects below treeline. 25-40 cm of storm snow began to settle under periods of direct solar. No signs of instability within the storm snow or at the storm interface, except some minor cracking on steep rollovers. On a 31 degree, NNE slope, I triggered one large collapse stepping out of my skis to dig a pit, 60 cm deep, on the 3/6 facet layer. Tests produced ECTP 14, SC results on this layer (F to 4F slab over F+, 1-1.5mm rounding facets). As slopes tilted towards sunnier NE aspects, this structure became less concerning because a crust layer from last week’s warm-up appears mid slab (3/14 crust layer, ~1” thick, 1F- hard), and slab below it (from our 3/6 storm) has faceted away.

Climax Chutes, NE aspect NTL. Repeat offender this month. Ran full track, ~1800 vert. SS-N-R2-D2-I

“The Shield” on Scarp Ridge. NE aspect ATL. SS-N-R3-D2-O

Schuylkill Ridge. NE aspect NTL. Repeat offender this month. SS-N-R2-D2-I

Schuylkill Ridge. NE aspect NTL. SS-N-R1-D1-U

Schuylkill Ridge. NE aspect NTL. Ran naturally today. SS-N-R2-D2-O.

Avalanches: NA:
No cracking, collapsing, or whumping on skin track in an extremely heavily used area.
Weather: Dawn:
S-1 to S1 snowfall with light to moderate winds transporting snow
Cold temperatures
Snowpack: Less than 8 cm of new cold snow with about 2.5 cm blown back into low skin tracks

Avalanches: A skier triggered collapse at ridgeline initiated a small slab avalanche on a northeast facing slope near treeline. The slab was about 14″ thick, and failed on the 3/6 facet layer. SS-AS-R1-D1-O. This slope failed nearly full-width last storm on the same layer (see the last photo in this ob), and we basically just cleaned out a piece of hangfire with today’s slide. Otherwise, I would have expected a more impressive avalanche in terms of size and propagation.
Weather: Broken to overcast skies. No precip to S-1. Cool temps. Strong, northwest winds, with brief periods of light to moderate transport.
Snowpack: See video. ~3″ of dense new snow in wind-sheltered BTL slopes, heavily redistributed by westerly winds at all elevations. 6″ drifts below treeline, and up to 18″ 4F drifts near treeline. Largest drifts below ridgelines and patches of scoured and pockets of loaded further down slope. On drifted terrain features, we skier triggered shooting cracks on the crusty storm interface on various aspects/elevations. See photos. On a windloaded feature on a north aspect NTL, we got repeatable moderate ECTP results on the dusty 3/6 facet layer (fist hard, 1-1.5 mm facets), about 18″ deep. The slab appeared to be the most variable component of this north-facing persistent slab distribution; scoured away by winds in some places, loaded in others. We got 2 moderate collapses on this layer on low angle, northerly slopes near treeline, and got shooting cracks below treeline on this layer on north facing wind drifted pockets, ~6″ deep.

Dusty 3/6 facet layer, about 12-18″ deep, produced propagating results, collapses, and a small skier triggered pocket on northerly aspects NTL.

Shooting cracks on storm interface, ~10-15″ deep below a windloaded ridgeline, SE aspect NTL.

Shooting cracks on storm interface, ~10-15″ deep below a windloaded ridgeline, SE aspect NTL.

Collapsing and shooting cracks on a north aspect NTL, on the 3/6 facet layer.

Cracks and small pockets on E aspect BTL, on crusty storm interface

Avalanches:
Weather: Some weather to report but nothing nice with light snow but steady strong wind driving and drifting snow. A dense now with 4″ new and water of 0.34″. Gusting into the 40 mph area but in general; a steady 10-15 mph W wind. Snow pack at 42½”, far below average for this date in what has become a very dry winter.

Currently light snow and steady wind with obscured cloud cover. A nasty day. billy
Snowpack:

Avalanches: Nothing new. No signs of instability today.
Weather: Clear in the a.m. built to broken skies. Light to moderate westerly winds. Warm temps.
Snowpack: Frozen surfaces thawed on E and S aspects, but not saturated enough for wet loose concerns. Went hunting for concerning persistent slab structure on northerly aspects and it was hard to find. Slab thickness over the 3/6 interface increased from ~6″ in the southern end of the Ruby Range, up to 15″ in the northern end. Everywhere that I dug down to the 3/6 interface on northerly, above-treeline slopes I found this slab well-bonded to a firm wind crust. The one wind-protected slope where I expected to find a worrisome structure with NSF had already slid naturally during our last storm. Did not travel on any wind protected near-treeline slopes which seems the most likely place to find the problem still. Below treeline on a north aspect, the slab was moist, ~8″ thick over a 1″ thick friable melt-freeze crust , with dry, 1.5mm facets below. Moderate ECTN failures on these facets. Concerning structure if we see more load. Surfaces for this incoming storm are generally smooth suncrusts/meltfreeze crusts, except for steep slopes below rockbands which are littered with rollerballs or wet loose debris, and north facing slopes which are still holding dry, settled powder.

Avalanches:
Weather: Clear in the am, 2pm overcast. No precip. Warm day 40f ,15-20 mph wind from the W above tree line.
Snowpack: Warm beginning increasing to hot was the theme of the day. Strong solar in the morning combined with only a 20f freeze overnight resulted in a rapid warming of the snow pack on East through south aspects.Small D1 avalanche observed SW facing terrain in Evans basin, skier triggered 15-20 cm deep. Snow on the East ridge of Evans basins at 1;30 was moist. Foot pen 25cm , ski pen 10cm. Roller balls from ski cuts. Wind kept the snow at higher elevations colder.

Avalanches:
Weather: clearer skies in the morning, clouds built throughout the day to scattered in the afternoon. Light winds, increased winds in the alpine. Temps where warm BTL in the low 30’s, winds kept things cooler in the alpine.
Snowpack: no real signs of instability, some signs of warming on southern aspects close to the waterfall area. Few roller balls. The tracks from yesterday were almost all filled in.