My goal was to assess below treeline slopes in this area and get a view of some upper-elevation slopes. Below treeline has nearly a meter of snow in sheltered areas on north, east, and south aspects. Less snow and more variable as you move onto sunnier slopes. The slab of December and January storm snow is about one to two feet thick. Snowpit test scores are increasing and there is less cracking and collapsing. However, I still found unstable results in snowpits. I think if you found the right below treeline slope, like a steep gully or rocky chute, or a drifted open slope, and it had a continuous slab, then you could trigger a dangerous slab avalanche. Any slope where there is a continuous, cohesive slab from December resting on weak snow from October and November is still suspect. I didn't travel above the treeline, but the wind was drifting snow at upper elevations. I noticed an old avalanche was nearly filled back in with drifted snow.

Low-elevation slopes on the east ridge of Quandary Peak

I parked at the Quandary Trailhead and toured up the summer trail. I stayed just below the treeline and toured around to north-facing slopes and then down to McCullough Gulch Road. I followed the road back to the trailhead.

I observed very minor cracking and collapsing when I crossed steep test slopes on north and east-facing slopes. There was none on south-facing slopes. I feel like many of these slopes would have slid or cracked and collapsed a week ago. The primary weak layer of concern is still the December Drought interface. The slab above it here was about 40 to 60cm thick. Extended Column Tests (ECT) and a Propagation Saw Test (PST) still yielded unstable results, but scores have been increasing. My lowest ECT score was on a sheltered south-facing slope with nearly a meter of snow. Where I saw steeper, less sheltered south-facing slopes, the height of snow and continuity of slab varied a lot over short distances. There was a buried melt-freeze crust about 10cm to 15cm below the surface on sunnier slopes. This wasn't an issue in my snowpit and it didn't seem especially troublesome, but it's something to watch for with additional loading. My scores on an east-facing slope where there is a well-distributed, and slightly thicker, slab over the weak snow were a bit harder. I only got results after blows from the shoulder in my ECTs. My PST cut on a meter-long column propagated to the end after 30cm. The structure on north-facing slopes is very similar to what you find on east-facing slopes at this elevation. Just take away any old crusts and add a little bit of depth.

Cold and clear to start with subzero temperatures that rose to the single digits by noon.