The skiing today reminded me of the kind of skiing that is typical of a late march or early April day in the La Sals. Every thing out of the trailhead was damp or had a melt freeze crust on it from our warm weather this past week. We found the same melt freeze crust higher up the laurel highway on anything that had received sun during our recent February thaw. There was a trace to 2" of new snow on the ground at upper elevations. The snow started as small graupel and turned to flakes about an hour into the storm. We were able to find some soft creamy snow in sheltered north facing trees, however we found areas of heavy tree bombing in spots as well.
If the snow and winds continue over night and we receive the 6-10" of snow possible then newly formed wind slabs will be a concern tomorrow on the lee side of ridges and terrain features.
Storm slabs could be a possibility tomorrow if we receive the projected snow fall amount. This snow will be falling on a thin graupel layer that fell at the beginning of the storm.
