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Weather Summary

A few hours of somewhat muted sunshine in the morning for the Sawtooths and the Smokys. Cloud cover increased by mid-morning and stayed that way through the majority of the remainder of the day. Moderate to strong winds blowing out of the S.

Snowpack Observations

This was a quick tour, my primary objective was to monitor the freeze quality. This was the worst freeze of the last week. In areas with trees the snow surface had not refrozen at all and there was still a bit of liquid water at the surface. In open areas the crust on the surface was 4-6cm thick and was variably supportable. Any slope (SE) that was getting muted sunshine was breaking down quickly by 1030, revealing a deep pile of mush underneath. It will take awhile to completely drain and refreeze a snowpack that looks like this, but even a solid surficial freeze will help with stability.

Avalanche Problems

I did not travel in avalanche terrain, but both wet loose and wet slab would have been on my problem list.

Terrain Use

I chose to avoid avalanche terrain due to wet snow issues.