Deep and supportable at Blue Lakes

Warm, sunny, and calm day at Blue Lakes. Snow was deep and supportable, allowing aggressive off trail riding with no whammies in our group today. We hit numerous wind loaded test slopes, with no signs of instability observed. Facets were over 6ft deep (as measured by trenching) and our test slopes were small, so we did not intend to nor expect to trigger the facets - just testing for lingering wind instabilities. Surface hoar was observed at the surface throughout our travels in the morning, from the Hope Valley snopark to our high point of 8800ft. Upon our return, surface hoar was no longer visible on sun exposed slopes. 

Pic 1: Lots of settlement cones and cracks observed today. Ski, track, and boot penetration was only 12-18 inches, and the snow below that was "rightside up." However, mistakes and/or agressive track spinning resulted in very deep trenches.

Pic 2: Even where the snow was relatively shallow (note the bare ground in the tree well), we were able to ride over buried rocks and logs with caution today.

Pic 3 and 4: Just a few of the previous natural crowns observed today. The double crown in pic 3 may have been a "step down" that started in the wind slab and stepped down to facets. The crown on lookers right of pic 4 might also have failed on the facets. Neither was within our agreed upon safety margins today for closer examination.

Pic 5: Some of the larger surface hoar observed today.