24 Hour Snow: 0" 72 Hour Snow: 0" Season Total Snow: 82" Depth at Gold Basin: 39"

Skies are mostly clear with a few high clouds, west northwest winds are blowing light to moderate along ridge tops, and it's a balmy 27°F in Gold Basin. Look for mostly sunny skies today with light northwesterly winds, and high temperatures in the low 40's at 10,000'. Little change is in store for the near future. Next chance for snow looks to be later in the first week of March.

It's been 10 days since the Valentine's Day storm and a strong sun and warm temperatures are taking a toll. South facing slopes are either crusted over or beginning to melt back out. Sheltered, northerly aspects still have soft, dry powder and herein lies the rub. The snowpack in these areas, especially near treeline and below, has some of the poorest structure I've ever seen. The Valentine's storm has produced a strong, cohesive slab up to 2 feet thick on top of a layer of very weak, faceted snow, and the pack below that isn't much stronger. And although outward signs of instability such as collapsing and whumphing have decreased, the balance is precarious at best. Strangely enough, things are a little better above treeline. The weak layer isn't as widespread due to heavy wind scouring and surface hardening during the long January high pressure. The problem, however, is in knowing where it is, and where it isn't. And in some cases you're splitting hairs as to where near treeline ends, and above treeline begins. The bottom line is that neither Dave, nor I, are considering skiing any steep, northerly facing terrain, possibly for the duration of the season. It's just too risky with the current setup.

In my travels up to Geyser Pass I observed this snowmobile triggered slab on a steep road cut. This is what we call a test slope. If you observe this kind of thing, it's an obvious red flag.

Also, check out this recent observation from Chris Benson.