No major red flags or signs of instability. No recent avalanches observed. We where mostly in the elevations of 1500' to 2400'. We did get a chance to observe the high alpine and noticed no avalanches but heavy wind effect on peaks and ribs.
Observation: Seward
Location: Lost Lake
Firemans trail up to Dale Clemens Cabin. Up track is in great condition. We wanted to get a good look with the chance of visibility around lost lake area.
Observer Comments
Weather
Overcast sky with mild precip in and out through the day. Air temps was cooler than yesterday and in the high 20's low 30's. Light to no wind.
Snow surface
Smooth snow surface, hardly much wind effect. Great quality pow riding!
Snowpack
In our class, we really wanted to gather as much information for the Seward area. Our main objective was to see how this new heavy wet storm load onto of the January facets was going to react. We dug at least 5 pits on aspects NE, W and SE all in the treeline area (1500' to 2000'). All of our pits were in areas that where shelter from the wind. We found HS totals to be anywhere from 105cm to 240+cm. All of our snow depth pits were 100 to 120CM.
Two test results- ECTN20 down 45CM on January facets, SE Aspect slope angle 25. We also got ECTN25 down 65CM on January facets NE aspect slope angle 30. Elevation on both pits was 2000'
Rest of our pits we got ECTX on those aspects.
It was interesting to see the upper 60CM's in the snowpack and the structure. It was very clearly a slab sitting on the January facets. Although we did not get full propagation in any of tests, we can clearly see the problematic layer and share concerns on this setup.