Cold Snow and Wet Snow near Slab Cliffs

North aspects held mostly cold dry snow above 8600 ft in the Slab Cliffs area today. This cold snow rested on top of a firm crust. By 1 pm some of the sunny spots on N aspects had started to consolidate but had not turned wet and sticky. Aspects with an E component were a different story. As soon as the sun hit the ENE, E and SE aspects the surface snow started to get wet and sticky on these aspects. By noon ski cuts on steep E facing slopes triggered ski width wide loose wet sluffs.

Ski cuts and kicks on wind-loaded test slopes did not trigger signs of wind slab instabilities, but they did trigger small roller balls on E and ENE facing wind-loaded test slopes. Cornices above these test slopes remained very easy to trigger.