All 3 of the recent snowmobile triggered avalanches that I looked at broke into sugary snow that formed on the surface during the mid December dry spell. At this point, the snowpack has stabilized quite a bit and test results are stubborn to fail at the locations of the avalanches which were on NE or E facing slopes at about 9800'. I'm feeling pretty good about this issue but I'm still not just punching any slope.

I was at a lower location on Friday near Miller Flat Reservoir where the snowpack is shallow and weak with sugary snow that feels like there is "no base". I experienced a couple of fairly large collapses or "whoomps" of the snowpack. This is unnerving. I was on lower angle slopes but had they been steeper, they would've avalanched.

So, it's a little tricky out there. For the most part things are stable but there is, no doubt, some weak snow around and it's a little difficult to identify exactly which slopes might have weak enough snow to avalanche.