Nowcast - A clear and crispy start to the day with stars overhead. 0500 AM temperatures sit cool at trailheads, in the teens, with upper elevations reporting closer to 25 °F. Winds blowing from the northwest are light, around 10 MPH while gusting into the teens.
Forecast - Sunshine and mild temperatures will be the theme, once again. Expect clear skies, a high of 30 °F, and winds to blowing from the northwest around 10-15 MPH.
Futurecast - Enjoy the sun and get after it out there while we can, we wont be seeing any snow until the end of the month unfortunately.
Travel Conditions - Snow depths across the range are 1-4' above 9,000' and supportable. Below that, and on many southerly elevations, the pack is thin. Access is challenging, and the snowpack has lost any integrity and resilience to the elements it once had. In many areas on the north half of the compass the pack has faceted in its top 1', and is quickly becoming unsupportable. On the sunny's, there is a mixed bag of crusts and powder is hard to find. For the best riding, I am shooting for upper elevation, north facing terrain that is not steep or rocky, has good coverage and is well protected from the elements.
Out on sunny, south facing slopes we noticed consistent, but light winds blowing from the northwest. With limited snow available for transport and a variety of surfaces to land on, the wind loading created more of a dappled refresh for riding than any concern for wind-drifted avalanches.
Shady, sheltered, north facing terrain out of the windone was the ticket yesterday, and will continue to be today.
There have been no avalanches reported from across the range in the past 24 hours.
