6:00 a.m. weather data:

24 Hour Snow 0" 72 Hour Snow 0" Base Depth at Gold Basin 39" Wind NW 10-15 Temp 18F

Conditions will remain dry and sunny while steadily warming through Monday. A Pacific trough will dig into the Great Basin Monday night into Tuesday bringing the first glimmer of hope we've seen in weeks. The position of the trough as it deepens and digs further south remains unclear and snow for our area remains uncertain.

NWS Weather Forecast for the La Sal Mountains

Gold Basin SNOTEL site (10,000')

I'm not sure what you'd call it but Mark Sevenoff and I found decent turning conditions on a southerly aspect around 11,000' yesterday. I guess faux-corn would be the best descriptor as it was certainly a melt freeze product. Elsewhere, conditions remain pretty rugged with a full range of crusts, textured surfaces, and hard snow. Areas with soft, re-crystallized "powder" can be found in sheltered areas but they are hit and miss to say the least.

During extended periods of high pressure we keep a vigilant eye on the development of loose, sugary, faceted snow forming near the surface. Near surface facets can become the next weak layer in the snowpack when new snow lands on top. This weak, sugary, non-cohesive layer can also produce dry loose snow avalanches. The weakest snow can be found on steep, shady, northerly aspects right around treeline and below. A group I spoke with on Saturday said the entire snowpack had become faceted in one such area they encountered. Above treeline, conditions are much more variable ranging from from wind scoured and sun crusted, to boiler plate. Where crusts are thin, the snow is faceting underneath. This makes mapping of this future weak layer tricky. Generally speaking, the more sheltered the area, the more likely the the surface is to be weak and faceted. When new snow finally comes, slope by slope analysis will be required when getting into steep terrain.