(Human error on my part - no photos or videos submitted with this observation. Might as well read it over a teletype printer.)
General observations from today's tour:
- Although the surface snow is faceted, it is not as weak as I was expecting. Was finding weak faceted snow Friday and Saturday in both LCC and BCC due to cold and clear conditions, but today in Millcreek at similar elevations and protection from the wind, the snow is not as weak. Cloud cover and warmer temps may be helping slow down the faceting near the surface.
- Was finding 5-20 cm (2-8") pencil-hard wind drifts from the New Years Day SE wind event. (If you close your eyes when saying this, it sounds like a sales special being run at some store.) As others have noted, there is a layer of weak faceted snow underneath many of these drifts. However, today we jumped on all sorts of these wind drifts and they were not sensitive at all, at most only cracking right around your skis. If you were on a steep, wind-loaded slope that did break out around you, it is likely to be a very small avalanche.
- Much of the ridgeline from Mount Raymond west had avalanched, likely during the 12/23 natural cycle. Many of these paths had filled in somewhat, and skiing one today ("Sox's" on Wasatch backcountry ski map) showed only a 15-45 cm (6-18") snowpack, with numerous rocks and stumps underneath. (Was sort of missing those early-season conditions.) Quick hand pits were showing much of this thin snowpack has faceted. Following the Christmas storm cycle, people began venturing onto steeper slopes only if they had avalanched. (This is pretty good terrain management.) Am now thinking that paths that slid before Christmas will be especially prone to avalanching once they get any new loading of snow and/or wind as the overall snow structure is weak and thin.
- Despite the wind, sun, warm temps, and numerous tracks throughout the range, there is still plenty of soft snow to be found.
From what I observed today (and the past few days although I did not submit observations), most of the terrain has a Low danger, with a Moderate risk of triggering an avalanche in upper elevation aspects that were wind loaded from SE/E winds. Deep slab remains a problem, but likelihood is very low.