The danger felt low around the lower elevation areas I toured today, which was unsurprising as I found only 5-7cm of new snow that fell overnight into today. I did not find a wind slab on open easterly aspects, but with stronger winds and more snow above treeline I would suspect it would be possible to trigger small wind slabs. There is a crust below the new snow on all aspects below treeline, but it is very subtle on north slopes. Apart from said crust, even at these lower elevations the snowpack on north aspects stayed dry over these last few days of warm temperatures.

Buffalo Pass

Parked at Dry Lake and traveled near the confluence of the main and south fork Soda Creek drainages, not going above 9,000 feet in elevation.

I found 5-7cm of new snow directly above a crust on all aspects. This crust was most notable while skiing/skinning on W-S-E aspects. On north aspects, it is very thin and did not have much of an affect on ski quality. In a snowpit dug on a NNW aspect, I found a dry snowpack that became progressively harder as I dug deeper (up to the depth that I dug, 100cm). In a snowpit dug on an east aspect, I found a snowpack that was moist down to the early February dry-spell layer (which was buried 60cm down), and dry beneath that to the ground. Apart from the new snow, this snow was 1-finger to pencil hard throughout, including the basal facets. In the snowpits dug on each aspect, I did not see concerning results in snowpack instability tests. My question going forward is if we will see reactivity with more loading on these crusts near the surface.

Skies were overcast, and for much of the day obscured. Temperatures hovered around the mid-twenties but felt colder at times with sustained light southwest winds and moderate gusts. Very light to moderate snowfall throughout my half-day tour.