We toured in Pleasant Creek drainage at elevations ranging from 7,400 to 10,300 feet, primarily on south, southwest, and west facing aspects. The recent series of storms have left a very impressive amount of snow in the area, making uphill travel quite difficult but also providing sublime ski conditions. From the last two days' storms snow totals ranged from around 6 inches at the trailhead to about 20 inches above 9,000 feet. The snow was low density and remarkably unaffected by the wind, sticking to south and west facing slopes that are usually scoured and icy.

We dug a pit on a SSW aspect at 9,600 feet in a wind sheltered area and found a snow depth of 175 cm. The snowpack on this aspect is very healthy and stable with no notable weak layers, well bonded snow and no faceted snow at the base. There was a small crust about halfway down the snowpack, presumably from before the Christmas storm but snow above and below was well bonded. The snowpack ranged from fist hardness at the top and gradually became denser with 1F snow at the bottom. As we moved up towards the ridge the snowpack became a lot shallower presumably due to wind transport from past storms but still had enough snow for great skiing conditions and easy travel. We did not experience any stability issues on the south and west facing slopes that we skied aside from some sluffing of the new low density snow in steeper terrain.

Overall we were pleasantly surprised to find such a stable and deep snowpack on south aspects. Keep in mind that there is a very large amount of low density snow distributed on all slopes, and any increase in winds will likely create wind slabs and increase avalanche danger even on slopes that may not have a persistent weak layer. Also consider that north facing slopes that have avalanched already have new snow on the bed surfaces and could be likely to become repeaters with more snowfall predicted for the next few days. For now great to see the mountains so covered in snow and having such great riding conditions on slopes that don't have a persistent weak layer.

Photo shows current snow depths and conditions in Upper Pleasant Creek