The snowpack is gaining strength and snowpits dug on Sunday, December 18 revealed a much less reactive weak layer. Reports of whumphing and collapsing of the snowpack are still coming in however, and I personally experienced a large, hair raising collapse on an upper elevation slope of around 25 degrees on SE aspect. This tells me that a little more patience is required, and I think there is still a fairly high likelihood of being able to trigger a large avalanche on steep, upper elevation terrain that has a NW-NE-SE aspect.

The buried, weak faceted layer illustrated here produced that avalanches that occurred on Friday. Though much less reactive, it is still present and warrants continued attention.

Wind slabs formed during the December 16 wind event have largely stabilized, but they still exist in the high country and if triggered they present the very real danger of stepping down into a buried weak layer causing a larger and more dangerous persistent slab avalanche. Continue to be suspicious of smooth, rounded deposits of wind drifted snow, particularly on steep, upper elevation terrain that has a NW-NE-SE aspect. Additionally, there is plenty of loose snow available for transport should winds pick up. In that case you will need to be alert to recent deposits of wind drifted snow.