There's good news and bad news down low. Bad news: there was rain below about 7500ft, with things quite wet and crusty especially below about 6700ft. Photo below is drainage runnels on the Birthday Bowls. The good news: the whole snowpack was wet all the way to the ground and we noted no obvious instability, a good set up for later. HS up to 100cm or so, with rightside up F to 4F and a crust about 30cm above the ground. Boot pen was also 100cm.
In the mid elevations, snowpack was fairly rightisde up (4F +/-) with some spatial variability, particularly in wind affected areas. HS 150cm or more, but in many locations snow was still on 4F hardness and therefore boot pen matched the HS. I think the rime crust prevented wind slab formation throughout the day, but with the afternoon/evening snowfall, I suspect there may be poor bonding with shallow storm/wind slabs failing on this crust.
Coverage and wind affects in the mid/upper elevations.
Photo of Cutler Headwall avalanches (see individual avalanche obs for more info).
