Observation Date: 02/15/2018

Route/Location:
NE and E aspects on Downing Mountain up to 8500′ (Stayed at lodge a few nights and skied Monday-Thurs)

Weather:
Bluebird days early in the week turned into minor weather systems, with an accumulation of 6+ inches the last two days. The other week’s raincrust to 6500′ can still be felt under the skis.

Wind:
W and SW winds were transporting light density snow that has fallen the last couple days (6+” since Monday at the higher elevations). Wind and light snowfall mostly filled in ski/skin tracks within a day and seemed to create a decent density break under Wednesday night’s accumulation, at least on open slopes.

New Snow: 6-12″

Avalanche Activity:
No recent activity observed. A little bit of storm snow sloughing on steep slopes (skier “triggered” – though nothing ran – on slopes approaching 45 degrees). A few signs of instability around isolated pockets of windslab on leeward ridgetops

Other Comments:
Dug at 8300′ on NE aspect. We couldn’t get anything to propagate in ECT tests – we dug about 120 cm in a 200+ cm snowpack. ECTN scores were in the mid 20s (snowpit geeks – sorry about the lack of detailed record keeping). Avoiding significantly loaded terrain near ridgetops, our group felt comfortable skiing steep terrain.

Observer: Ben Johnson