A ways from ripe yet

Baseline snowpack info prior to WMR opening. 5600-6800 ft. 

• Stormy day. Snow showers, some heavy at times. 3-5 inches of dense new snow in past 24 hours. Dense (4F because small grains tightly packed. Not wet, except below 5000 ft. 
• Moderate to strong southwesterly winds with light blowing snow mid and upper elevations; moderate at exposed ridge. 
• Skies obscured.

The new snow was reactive to a person's weight on most slopes.

• Shooting cracks 3-30 feet long.
• It failed on isolation in small and large column tests.
• Despite the cracking and failures, we could not trigger any avalanches on steep test slopes. 
• The layer is failing on a very soft (F) layer of low-density snow immediately below it (12/7 pp). This soft snow looks to be large precipitation particles (stellars and dendrites) rather than facets.

Other notable obs:

• Several thick drifts below a corniced ridge collapsed and whumpfed but did not move. These also seemed to fail on the 12/7 layer.
• No recent rain crusts, though WMR patrol reported spotty crusts on northerly slopes.

Travel conditions:

• Snow depths of 50-120 cm above 6200 feet
• Windward and sunny slopes had the thinnest snow cover, with lots of barely buried logs and rocks.
• The 12/3 crust is supportable on shady slopes, making for straightforward travel.
• Below 6200 feet, bush depths of 30 to 300 cm, making for slow, patience-testing travel. 

With the heavy snow and winds, it felt like winter. finally.

Pics to come.