After waiting for the temps to climb to a double-digit, I finally got out on the new snow. Down low, the snowpack is very thin and unsupportive collapsing into the basal facets. A few people got out in the bitter cold the last few days and below 8500 feet, left plenty of dirty holes trying to unsuccessfully throttle out of facets. Once above 8500 feet, the snow gains enough strength to stay on top. Finally, up on top it’s bomber solid but definitely very thin for this time of year. There has been quite a bit of wind scouring out there so rocky terrain is all a no go so far this season.

The wind was ripping from the NW all day building cornices and blowing snow down lower onto the east faces. There is wide-spread wind loading with drifts littered all over any open terrain. Most were small and didn’t have enough weight to pull out. Given the rocky nature of the Uintas and our thin snow pack, any slide will likely take you through nasty poking rocks so I stayed away from steep open rolling north facing terrain which houses larger wind slabs that are more likely to pull out and could potentially step down and break down to the ground.