Being a bluebird day with 17"+ of new snow, there were lots of people in the Alta backcountry.   Lots of steeper lines were being skied and hopefully this is not a sign of people starting to get over confident about the snowpack.

We approached Twin Lakes Pass from Brighton and the Solitude control work had released several small slides on the ridge above Twin Lakes.  From Black Bess, several natural slides could be seens along various gullies off Emma Ridge.  We dug our pit on a steep roll over that was sheltered from sun and wind.  As noted in the profile, only a short distance away, in a location that was not sheltered, there was a significant crust under the 30Dec snow.