We made it out today to check snow stability and avalanche conditions. The 8 inches of new snow, consisting primarily of graupel, rode surprisingly well. The new snow was relatively dense, which helped keep us off the underlying 2-inch rain crust. Riding conditions were best above 8,000 feet but remained good down to approximately 7,500 feet. We had a few hours of sunshine in the morning before skies became overcast, with light snowfall beginning around noon.

Snowpack & Stability Tests: We dug an avi pit on an east-northeast (ENE) facing, 30-degree slope at approximately 7,900 feet in elevation. The total snow depth at this location was around 55 inches.

• Surface: 8 inches of new snow/graupel.
• Below Surface: A 2-inch, dirty/dusty rain crust.
• Subsurface Layers: Beneath the rain crust, we found a layer of unconsolidated snow. While it did not appear to be fully faceted, it was loose and sugary in texture. This was our primary concern during stability testing.
• Below this weak layer was 12 inches of damp snow that accumulated just before last weekend’s rain event.

• Failures were observed just below the rain crust at CT13 and CT14.
• Additional failures occurred at CT18 and CT19 at the new/old snow interface, approximately 22 inches below the surface.

• First ECT: ECTP15, full propagation failure just beneath the rain crust.
• Second failure at ECTN22, breaking at the new/old snow interface (~22 inches deep).
• A second ECT in the same pit showed a failure under the rain crust at ECTN15 (did not propagate).
• Another failure at ECTN19 at the 22-inch deep new/old snow interface.

We stayed on slopes below 30 degrees throughout the day and felt conditions were manageable. However, given our test results, I would be leery of steeper terrain (>30°), particularly where the weak layer beneath the rain crust is present.