We made it out to check the conditions today. The snow was medium density today but riding conditions were great although we only sunk into the snow 6-8 inches each turn. We stuck to mellow angled terrain less than 30 degrees. The only avalanche warning signs were the significant new snow load and some wind loading. We did not experience any cracking or whoomphfing.

We dug an avalanche pit on a 25 degree ESE facing slope around 8600 feet. There was about 16 inches of new snow with multiple new snow instabilities on grauple layers. That 16 inches of snow was sitting on top of a very firm ¼ inch thick rain crust. The snow was dense enough that we never felt it during any of our turns. Below that ice crust were several other somewhat reactive persistent weak layers (PWL) from a month ago. There was a total of 58 inches of snow on the ground at this location.

The shovel shear test resulted in a Q1 failure just above the ice crust. Compression tests failures occurred at 8 and 12 in the new snow. Another failure occurred at 16 taps an inch below the ice crust, and 25 taps at the PWL 30 inches down. The extended column test resulted in multiple failures in the new snow, none of which propagated. The only somewhat concerning ECT failure was down at the PWL around 30 inches from the surface. This was an ECTP25 but it was along multiple shear planes as you can see from the picture.

Bottom line, We felt very good about riding this 25 degree ESE facing slope but with all the new snow and wind loading, I would stay far away from anything above 30 degrees.