In our travels up above North Creek Pass on Thursday, we found that the fresh snow had improved conditions though crusts and old tracks could still be felt underneath, particularly on sunnier aspects. The new, low-density snow will be easily transported today by the wind and fresh, unstable drifts will be found on the leeward sides of ridge crests and terrain features, primarily in upper elevation, wind exposed terrain. As winds increase today, we could see some natural soft slab releases or fast running, loose snow sluffs off of some of the larger and steeper terrain. Today is a good day to stay out from underneath long-running slide paths. If you are headed up North Creek, travel under paths that threaten the road one at a time, and don't dawdle. Persistent weak layers of faceted snow still exist in the lower portion of the snowpack, and stability tests indicate that it is still possible to trigger an avalanche on a buried weak layer. Steep, northerly-facing terrain remains the most likely area to trigger this kind of avalanche.