Stability on the sunny aspects is good, for now. The weakest snow is at the surface, low density dendrites that are beginning to facet. The layer of most concern however is still the upper end of the november facets that is now buried about 1-3' below the surface. Still reactive in stability tests and still living in conditions with a temperature gradient these facets are destined to stick around for a while. The pit above is in a relatively shallow area but fairly representative of the north side of BCC. Currently these aspects are a nice refuge from the much more hazardous shady aspects but if given a big load of new snow, all bets are off.

I saw one recent SS-N-R1,D2-O in Radar Love at 9900', NE aspect, 38deg, 50' wide, 600' vert, 18" deep failing at facets near the ground that likely happened late in the last storm around early AM on Dec.19. It ran all the way to the flats at the bottom and is another indication of what's to come on the mid to upper elevation northerly aspects. It sure feels like we are going to be dealing with this instability with each new load for the foreseeable future. I feel like the hazard rating has been right on lately if you are rating the general stability based on the greatest hazard that exists. The stabiity rose is a better way to look at things however because there are lots of aspects that have a lower hazard. Still, people seem to be pushing into those shady aspects and trying there luck where the deck is not stacked in there favor.