Running hypothesis at the start of the day was that the snowpack would be A) thinner and therefore quite a bit weaker than the Wasatch on the shady aspects (it was) B) basically non-existant on the solar aspects (it's thin but actually shaping up nicely all things considered) and C) that the snow surface on shady aspects might have decomposed enough to make slab avalanches a non-issue (it hadn't). The top few CM of the snowpack had indeed decomposed into some classic square pow, but just below that was a thin but strong 1F slab sitting on a facet layer.

We were a bit taken aback by just how large and widespread the most recent avalanche cycle had been, with numerous slides running full track, onto the flats, and uphill over small terrain features. Always amazing to see how such a short drive can get you to an area wich such different weather conditions, snow conditions, and avalanche conditions. These slides had occured on East through Northwest facing slopes. They looked to have occurred early last week during a wind loading event. I do think it would have been unlikely to trigger a slide of this magnitude yesterday with just the weight of a skier, but collapses and pit test indicated probably not impossible. So, we opted to ski more manageable terrain.

Solar aspects had about 30-60cm of crusty consolidated snow above 8000' and mostly bushes below that.