Above 9000' the snowpack seems currently stable. Any old wind drifts are not sensitive, and recent storm snow has consolidated into a relaxed 4F slab. I dug a handful of pits on upper elevation north aspects, and some of these slabs are sitting on top of softer and drier (i.e. weaker) snow, but I could not produce any results with compression (CTN) or extended column tests (ECTX).
The moderate to strong winds were affecting the mid and upper elevations, however, with so little loose snow available for transport, I suspect only shallow pockets of fresh wind drifts can be found.
Am expecting additional snow expected Friday and Saturday will bond well to the old snow surface, and avalanche concerns will be wind and storm slabs.
Photo of skyline. Despite moderate to strong winds, no obvious wind transport was noted.
I was asked by someone "how far back from the edge of a cornice should I be traveling?" My initial answer was - "if you have any doubt, go back even further." But that isn't all that helpful. Part of my tour this morning included traveling along from the top of Patsy Marley to Mt. Wolverine. This traverses across the heavily-corniced Wolverine Cirque, where many cornices are overhanging by easily 15'. The following photos show the corniced ridgeline from the bottom of Wolverine Cirque, as well as a the highlighted route I used for traversing across this ridge.
Very wide berths should be given to corniced ridgelines.
