Current Conditions
The song remains the same. You'll find various wind and sun crusts on the surface in many areas. However, you'll also find soft "re-crystalized" powder in many sheltered locations. If you're able to sniff around and find these stashes where there are no old tracks, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the good riding. Overnight temperatures were in the low to mid teens. Northwest wind was a bit breezy along the higher terrain on Saturday. It wasn't getting down into the valleys and canyon bottoms much. It looks like it is on a slowing trend now.
Mountain Weather
Well, if it's not going to snow I guess the sunny weather is welcome. We'll have sunshine and ridgeline high temperatures into the mid to upper 20s with fairly light north wind. The wind direction may even drift a little northeast. It looks like we'll see similar weather for another week. Weather models are hinting at a pattern change starting around mid month.
There were a few non-consequential wind slabs triggered on Saturday. They were generally small and shallow and were located right near the ridgelines on the lee sides. They didn't pose much threat to sleds but may have been big enough to knock a skier or snowboarder off their feet. The one my partner and I looked at in Ephraim Canyon had a characteristic that is worth noting. It broke on weak sugary "near surface facets" that formed in January. There is LOTS of surface facets scattered around the range and the concern is that we may see more widespread avalanching due to the facets once they are buried with new snow. Time will tell.
