...But not one for today's surface. Melt-Freeze crust 4cm thick thinning to 1-2 cm at 6600' (highest we traveled). Capping very dense dry snow from most recent storm. Frosted with surface hoar and/ or near-surface facets (image). Unusually difficult trailbreaking for ski penetration of < 5cm. Slapstick skiing, though snowboard rode fine. Snowmobile carved predictably, though slowly.
Saw debris from several natural avalanches that likely ran late Wednesday or early Thursday. Poor visibility prevented a good survey of terrain that wasn't immediately around our route.
Sheltered, northerly terrain showed evidence of our arctic to tropical weather shift
We saw no signs of instability (except my skiing) and a profile of the top meter of the snowpack showed hard, dense snow with no apparent weak layers (profile).
to 6600 ft
Wet loose slide out of steep, rocky terrain that fanned out, with furthest extent of debris reaching groomed snowmobile trail. Maybe 4' deep on trail, but less than 2' deep on slope. Guessing on date due to weather and fact trail groomed and debris plowed 1/13.
Guessing on date; debris noted 1/14. Little if any new snow on debris.
