Today, the primary concern for our tour was surface instabilities. We chose to examine how wind-drifted snow would be affected by the graupel interface, as well as recent storm interfaces. While traveling and conducting numerous hasty pits on both east and west-facing aspects, we found that graupel was widespread but did not seem to present a cohesive layer or interface issue unless additionally loaded by the wind. Although the winds were elevated, we only encountered significant issues across ridgetops or along terrain features that allowed drifting snow to accumulate. On ridgetops, we observed some developing cornices that we could kick off, resulting in a bit of new snow entrainment or sluffing. In more confined spaces, we experienced shallow sluffing within the graupel/new snow layers. However, when encountering slightly more wind-drifted pockets, we experienced enough sluffing to potentially knock a person off their feet. I believe that paying attention to terrain features while traveling and looking for more than just obvious signs like cracking and collapsing—such as pillow-shaped terrain features—is crucial, as these can catch people off guard. Generally, I think today's warmer temperatures will help solidify these layers in place, but with the winds remaining elevated, they will still pose a concern.

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The wet snow was evident at the trailhead, as spruces had received water but no measurable snowfall. The low-elevation snow surface was damp, and tree bombs were abundant. On the way out of Cardiff Fork, all of the low-elevation cut banks had obvious roller balls and small wet loose avalanches. There were no signs of larger wet activity, though it seemed to end right along the low-elevation band. I would guess that there will be a stout crust at these elevations as we move into the cooler weather pattern.

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