Wanted to go see what was up with West Monitor, looked at it at least 15 times this year but had not skied it. Seemed like a good time to give it a try with the slabs breaking down and a generally benign snow pack right now. Looked smooth and I talked myself into thinking it would be soft and creamy, Wrong answer! it was smooth but it had a stout wind crust on the whole face that was not very user friendly. One good thing did come out of it, Brett Kobernik was able to get right in the gut of the starting zone and dig a pit, which I think is the first pit I have seen done in this location. The wind crust was not as stout or wide spread in South Monitor and it was more faceted on the surface and it skied alright. Then there's No Name Facets from top to bottom, even the bed surface from last weeks slide is completely faceted and loose and a good candidate for a repeater avalanche with more load. PHOTOS.

Kowboy digging a pit in the starting zone of West Monitor.

Loose faceted surface sluff moving in No Name.

Large grain facets found in the bed surface of the No Name slide covered only by a thin rime crust and a couple inches of smaller grain faceted snow on the surface.

In the areas traveled today you would be hard pressed to even buy a avalanche, but there still might be a place someone could find a rouge wind slab.