Areas of wind drifted snow continue to be our primary concern. Ridge top winds averaging 30 mph have blown all over the compass. This has resulted in blowing, drifting, and scouring of snow on all aspects at upper elevations. Avoid steep slopes that look to be wind-loaded, or that have a smooth, rounded appearance. Cracking or "whumphing" is a sign of instability. A triggered wind slab also has the potential to step down into a buried, persistent weak layer causing a deeper and more dangerous avalanche.

Areas with poor snowpack structure continue to be observed but weak layers are displaying varying degrees of reactivity. In our travels yesterday, we were unable to produce propagation on a buried weak layer, but Brian Sparks sent in this observation where his tests produced an ECTP22. Prudent backcountry travelers will perform their own stability analyses before jumping on to steep terrain. You are most likely to trigger an avalanche on a buried persistent weak layer on north-facing slopes that are wind-loaded, or in areas with rocky, radical terrain that have a shallow snowpack.

The photo below, taken by Travis Nauman has been up for a while, but the clearly visible persistent weak layer is still present in the snowpack, and is likely the interface with the Christmas Eve storm.

And this snow pit profile submitted by Chris Benson also illustrates the weak layers we need to keep our eyes on.