The road goes on forever...

Traveled into the northern Swan Range from the  reservoir to monitor persistent slab problem, look for wind slabs, and get a sense of the snow surface in advance of this weekend's storm.

• Saw no recent avalanches, though visibility was poor, and felt no collapses. 
• Buried facet/ crust combinations are currently the primary avalanche concern below ridgecrests. Two crusts are present, buried about 40 and 55 cm below the surface. Facets below the upper crust produced conflicting results in large column tests. The lower (Nov. 19) was unreactive. A stiffer slab above these facet/ crust combinations would make them more sensitive to a rider's weight.
• Though we saw a few small drifts and felt some gusts, there was very little evidence of wind effects in this leeward basin. We suspect more drifting and scouring near the ridgecrest.
• Today's snow surface consisted of 10-20 cm of loose, coehsionless, faceted snow. That snow was uniform across all aspects in the elevation band where we traveled on skis (6000-6700'). 

Based on no signs of instability or stiff wind slabs, we felt comfortable on slopes up to 35 degrees.

A concern going forward is the current snow surface. It's weak, and while it may not readily form slabs if drifted, it seems likely to serve as an easy failure plane for accumulating new and drifted snow. That interface will be particularly prone to failure if the approaching storm finishes warm and leaves upside-down slabs (denser at their surfaces than bases) or firm wind slabs. Which it's forecast to do.