Avalanches:
Weather: Thankfully very light wind but s steady moderate to heavy snow fall with 9½” overnight and 0.68″ of water (though that may be a bit behind the snow total by a little). Snowpack is at winters deepest of 32″. Temperature very warm with overnight range 28 to 30. I will getg you actually totals around 7 or so.
Snowpack:

Avalanches: 5 harmless wet loose avalanches ran naturally on a SW aspect BTL. I could see a fresh D1.5 debris pile on a S aspect NTL, looked like it might have been a slab release but too far to see clearly.
Weather: Broken skies. Warm, greenhousing.
Snowpack: No signs of instability across various rollovers and steep roadcuts BTL. Mid-pack facet layers produced non-propagating results. The structure on southeast aspects appeared to be the most fragile for incoming loads. Northeast aspects could handle a larger load but will produce larger slides. See photos and captions

Small loose avalanches occurred during greenhousing today.  SW aspect BTL.

Avalanches: None.
Weather: Cloudy, calm, warm (25?).
Snowpack: Shallow with a spongy/wet layer between the old and new snow. 4″ powder on top of the spongy stuff. No slough, but didn’t ski over 35 degree pitch.

Avalanches: none observed
Weather: Overcast and warm. Windy conditions even below treeline
Snowpack: 58 cm right below treeline. Layered snowpack although relatively consolidated. I saw no signs of instability but there was snow being blown around even in the Aspen trees so I imagine there was a lot of transport up high. Thicker denser snow on the surface from temp and sun but low angle slopes helped to not allow the sunburst to develop.

Avalanches: No recent avalanches observed across all bowls of Mt. Axtell or on northerly aspects of Carbon
Weather: Overcast, light to moderate westerly winds at ridgetop, with minimal snow transport observed.
Snowpack: See photo captions for detailed pit descriptions.
On NE aspects N/ATL. Extended column tests showed propagating results on basal facets/depth hoar, up to a meter deep. Non-propagating results on Dec 6th near surface facet layer, buried mid-pack. We triggered two large collapses on low angle slopes. We did not venture onto any steep terrain at these elevations.
On S/SW aspects N/BTL. The Dec 6th crust/facet layer produced about 5 rolling collapses up to 50+ feet long, but is buried only 6-12″ right now; not much of a slab. Propagating results.
On N/NE aspects BTL, the snowpack felt fairly uniform and soft, becoming progressively weaker with depth but with no distinct or sudden hardness changes. We traveled on several slopes steeper than 35 degrees with no signs of instability.

NE aspect ATL.  3-5 mm depth hoar grains at the bottom of the snowpack.  Difficult to say how continuous this relatively thin layer is across steep slopes due to surface roughness and variability.

NE aspect ATL. ECTX result, but sudden collapse, propagating result with 2 additional hits (ECTP32) on 3-5 mm, fist hard depth hoar, below a ~90 cm, 4F to 1F slab.  Non propagating results on Dec 6th near surface facet layer, about 35 cm deep.

SSW aspect NTL.  ECTP 15, SC below the Dec 6th crust layer (1F, 1 cm thick), over F facets.  30 cm of F to 4F slab above this layer. Rolling collapses observed on this layer, although slab generally felt lacking in these wind protected slopes.

NE aspect NTL.  ECTP 16, SC on 1-2 mm basal facets below a 75 cm slab (F to 4F).  ECTN results on the Dec 6th near surface facet layer (F+) buried about 35 cm deep.

Avalanches: We descended slopes up to ~38 degrees with no avalanche activity.
Weather: Broken skies, calm winds, no precip.
Snowpack: Hollow snowpack structure produced widespread cracking ~5 to 15 feet and localized collapsing. 12″, semi-supportive (on skis) soft slab over fist hard facets, consistent structure across all terrain that we traveled. Propagating results in ECT and PST. Small storm slab management still seems to apply here, and it felt like the slab is a little too soft/thin for avalanching or propagating on most features, except for very steep, unsupported, or wind stiffened slopes. Not much additional load needed here for widespread persistent slab issues.

12_12_16-Happy-Chutes-Pit-Profile

DSCN1180-001

wow, we have bright orange hats. And cracking snow.

Lots of localized collapses and cracks.

Avalanches:
Weather: OVC, NW M>S as day progressed
Snowpack: ATL & BTL E-S-W No signs of instability, sleds roosting 35-40* & leaving troughs on the above mentioned terrain with no results. stomped on ridgelines of steep windloaded slopes (HS 80-110cm) no results

intensifying snow transport ~15:00, some quickly blown in tracks @ all elevations in open clearings