Observation: Mill D North

New Snow

Decreasing Danger

6" of low density fluff on top of the Christmas rain crust. The new snow is still poorly bonded to the crust, and I would expect touchy loose snow avalanches to run fast and far in steep terrain. Hard to tell without a loupe but the new snow may be faceting, which would exacerbate this.

Persistent Weak Layer

Same

Below 9k', the Christmas rain crust seemed pretty bullet proof. Hard to imagine an avalanche failing on a layer below that crust. Above 9k' the crust got a little punchier, and it didn't seem impossible (though still unlikely) for an avalanche to run on a buried weak layer there. I didn't get above 9.4k' today.