Emotional Rescue

Toured into low and mid elevation terrain - with brief foray high - to untangle today's dry/ wet sluff/ slab avalanche problems.

• Loose snow avalanches were our primary concern. we saw/ triggered small to large dry snow sluffs on slopes > 40* in steepness (Avalanche details tab). Slopes less steep did not sluff.
• Below 5200', mid afternoon turns on steep (> 35*) shaded slopes released rollerballs that did not coalesce into wet snow sluffs (image). We did not travel on sunny aspects, where wet snow avalanches might have been more likely. We did not see any fresh natural wet snow avalanches. Below about 4000', the snowpack was wet well below the surface snow and we saw/ triggered some rollerballs. Slopes weren't long enough to result on avalanches. 
• Depending on elevation, 8-20" of dense recent snow sits above a melt-freeze crust (image). This snow gets progressively harder with depth. No propagation or planar shears in tests, though we did see some breaks and non-propagating failures (image) at layer interfaces. No collapses or shooting cracks; little evidence of a Storm Slab avalanche problem. 
• We saw some light blowing snow and drifting (image), thanks to gusty winds. The drifted snow hasn't (yet) formed slabs, in part because of the grain type (rimed particles or graupel). Might be some pockets in higher, more exposed terrain. The winds hadn't had much effect on the surface snow by the time we left (image)

With little evidence of a slab avalanche problem, we skied steep and very steep east and north facing slopes between 4000 and 6700 feet, which was good for the spirit.