Wind drifted snow continues to be our primary concern. Snow over the past week has blown into deep, dense drifts along upper elevation ridge crests, and even down into mid elevations, primarily on slopes that face NW-N-E. Shift wind directions have also deposited snow on to southerly aspects at upper elevations, and we now have a myriad of old and new wind slabs. Avoid slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow recognizable by their smooth, rounded appearance. Cracking in the snow surface is a sign of instability.

The snow load from last week was a pretty good test for the snowpack, and the lack of natural activity involving persistent weak layers indicates that the pack is gaining strength. Unfortunately, layers do still exist, and now it's becoming a bit more like rolling the dice. In addition to our early December faceted layer, other weak layers are turning up higher in the snowpack, and they aren't just confined to northerly aspects. Pro observer Travis Nauman turned back from an upper elevation SE facing slope after his ECT produced propagation on several interfaces. See his observation for more details. The bottom line is you will have to do a slope by slope analysis before considering terrain steeper than 35 degrees.