Wind moving snow across the highway but the wind-sheltered NNW terrain skied very nicely. About 6 inches of fresh on top of a pack that seems to be gaining strength. Skied the same slope last Sunday, and felt and heard at least a half dozen collapses last week. Today felt or heard none. The snow was much more punchy last week, and seemed more supportable today.

Dug a pit at 8,950 feet, 25 degree slope, NNW 330. Total depth 100cm. Bottom 65cm all sugar. A firm 4F layer from 65cm to 80cm, F 80cm to almost top. Very slight wind crust on top.

FORECASTER NOTES: I have noticed similar things over the last week. The snowpack is slowly becoming more supportable which means it is gaining strength. BE CAREFUL WITH HOW YOU INTERPRET THIS!! Yes, the upper layers of the snowpack are currently gaining strength. You don't even have to dig to notice this because we are not punching through on our skis or machines into the weak snow as much as we were last week. The upper layers are getting strong enough to keep us on top. The problem is that the WEAK FACETED UNDERLYING SNOW IS STILL THERE! Step off your skis or machine and you'll punch right through to the ground. With upper layers gaining a little strength, we are not going to feel as many collapses as we have. Things will be less sensitive which can lead us into a false sense of security. This type of weak faceted sugary snow at the base of the snowpack is very slow to gain strength. We may not see any really good stability at all this season.