NE winds at Blue Lakes

Clear views of several large avalanche paths in the area, and surprisingly we only saw evidence of one recent slab avalanche. Some of the steeper features looked to have had recent dry loose activity, or very shallow soft slabs that did not leave distinct crowns or flanks. Test slopes did not indicate instability within storm snow, and would not be appropriate to reach conclusions about instability within the old faceted snow or surface hoar. We did not get opportunities to attempt test slopes in wind loaded terrain. Extended Column Tests did indicate instability within the Jan 29th facets. I could find surface hoar at the same height as the ECT failures, but it did not appear intact across the full width of columns.

NE winds were moving snow in the afternoon. I saw plumes of snow blowing from many big terrain features, but more concerning was the constant movement of snow right along the surface of wind exposed terrain - not easy to capture in photos but redistributing quite a bit of snow in the afternoon.

Amazing riding conditions on all aspects today, so long as they were sheltered from the wind.