Same old, same old those pesky facets.

In this area the suspect depth hoar is buried under a 1.5 meter slab.   A four or five foot deep hard slab avalanche is a scary thought, but the slab here is now so hard and thick that human weight probably won't be enough to collapse the underlying Colorado-like  weak layer.  The more West Coast-like slab was thick and heavy when it fell, and during the successive storms on January 18th through the 21st the nearby Tony Grove Snotel reported 8 inches of water accumulated in several feet of snow .   We've seen evidence of widespread and numerous natural avalanches that occurred during this event, and we received several reports of scary triggered avalanches in the first few days after the storm.  But, in the two-and-a-half weeks since the storm, the slab has gained considerable strength, even on slopes that didn't naturally avalanche during the  big cycle..  

I am getting more comfortable with the situation, but I'm still unwilling to get out on big steep slopes.. Riders, who are  obviously also getting more comfortable tested many suspects last weekend, and even with sled tracks visible on many steep slopes I haven't observed any deep slab avalanches recently and none were reported..  Toby