Finally, we have an instant winter with good coverage. This was my first trip up the Cottonwood Canyons since the big storm. Nice to finally leave my rock skis at home--hopefully for the rest of the season. We skied some of the aspen glades below the radars along the upper BCC ridgeline and south of USA Bowl. I dug here around New Years, where previously I could hardly isolate a column in the depth hoar. Now, as you might have guessed, it's a whole different world with about a meter of dense snow slammed down on top of the fragile layers near the ground. I thought my snow pit tests might collapse easier but in this particular location the tests were fairly stubborn. No, that doesn't mean that all the snowpack is just as stubborn. Don't get married on the first date. You need to gather lots of information from lots of sources before you bet your life on anything, especially avalanches. I would love to dig more pits in different locations but I ran out of time. But anyway, at least this is one data point. Personally, I'm in entrenchment mode for the rest of the season because this is a very dangerous snowpack with a very high level of uncertainty. I'm not messing with anything steeper than 30 degrees, which always includes what it's locally connected to, especially above.