Toured up Knob Mountain and into Cow Fork today at elevations ranging from 7,000 to 10,100 feet on slopes of all aspects. The good news is that the new high density snow skied well and added some much needed body to the snowpack. Despite the meager snow totals things seemed quite a bit more filled in than a week ago. The bad news is that our snowpack is still very shallow and weak. You still punch right through to the ground as soon as you take off your skis. This storm was not enough to tip the balance and cause natural avalanches at least in places we traveled but did create some fresh and sensitive wind drifts. The main avalanche problem remains persistent slabs failing on the weak faceted snow at the base of the snowpack and this doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.