The weak sugary faceted snow near the ground remains a concern. Unbelievably, my partner and I once again experienced large collapses and shooting cracks during fieldwork on Saturday. It is amazing that this is still occurring so long after the last significant snow storm. This definitely indicates human triggered avalanches are likely on steep slopes.,

The future doesn't look good for our snowpack. It remains very shallow for this time of the season. It looks like we'll go at least another week without any significant storms. This may be the nail in the coffin for our snowpack. Another week of high pressure will be the perfect conditions to weaken the shallow snowpack more. The shallow nature of the pack doesn't stand a chance. It will all be facets (sugary grains of snow) before long. It will continue to become more punchy and less supportable. You will be punching through to the ground in more and more places. This is a terrible setup if we ever get storms that load more layers of snow on top of the current weak structure.