Improbable lay-up

Tried to get a good seat for a show of wet loose slides on steep, rocky, southerly terrain. No sun. No show. It was like having tickets to a Kanye concert.

• Storm totals from the past few days increased from 3" (<5000 ft) to 8" (above 6400 ft).
• The tracks and runouts of many southerly and northerly slopes below rocky terrain looked to have debris from recent loose snow slides. Light too poor to determine if they were dry or wet.
• Overcast/ obscured skies limited solar radiation and heat today; the snow surface on southerly slopes remained several inches of dry, unconsolidated snow over a crust.
• Snow surface on northerly slopes remained dry and unconsolidated between ~4500-7000 ft. No evidence of drifting on northerly slopes below exposed ridges.
• Loose snow slides (dry) posed the primary danger on steep, northerly slopes. Several entrained enough debris to knock a person of their feet and could have been dangerous if they pushed you into a terrain trap. This hazard will exist for the next few days in terrain like this.

Given the lack of wind slabs, persistent weak layers, and a wet loose show, we settled for dry, low-density snow in steep, complex, consequential terrain.  We stopped at conexities to keep each other in sight, and regrouped in spots free of overhead hazard.