Observations from Indian Valley

Sunny morning with Moderate SW winds and wild temperature swings throughout the day. Cloud cover increased and by our departure at 3pm skies became Overcast with light snow flurries. Clear views of big avalanche terrain revealed no signs of recent avalanche activity.

Pics 1, 2 and 3: ECTN on a wind sheltered slope - my saw is pointing to where the failure propagated about halfway across the column. Similar results about 50ft away. We hammered several wind sheltered test slopes as in Pic 2, with no signs of lingering storm instability. Settlement cones on trees became more and more developed throughout the day (pic 3).

Pics 4 and 5: SW winds observed to be transporting snow prior to our arrival and then all day. Cornices that had been rounded were angular and fresh looking again, windward slopes were getting scoured, windward sides of trees were bare, drifts were developing in meadows. The wind loaded test slope in pic 5 fractured surprisingly deep, but appeared to be all within the new snow, not down to old snow.