Spent 12/9-12/12 at Morrell Mountain Yurt Ski in southern Swans outside of FAC forecast range. This weekend's storms seem to have been colder in southern Swans then reported in the FAC forecast range, and we did not observe any upside down storm snow noted in other obs. At yurt elevation at 6800' we observed 45+ cm of new snow, with 35 cm falling overnight on 12/9. SE, S SW, and W winds ranged from light to strong over the course of our trip, with swirling winds transporting and depositing snow in not always predictable ways. We noticed much spatial variability in wind slab formation and precipitation, especially on 12/12. Air temps stayed well below freezing above 6800', generally below -7 Celsius. Skies were overcast or obscured for the duration of our trip.
Dug a pits on E aspect at 7300' on 12/11 and SE aspect at 7800' on 12/12.
While the spatial variability and potential for wind slabs kept us wary, the slabs we did observe remained stubborn to repeated tests, and did not propagate. We stayed conservative in our terrain choice and stuck to slopes that were mostly below 30 degrees, avoided convexities, and enjoyed great powder skiing. With snowpack sitting generally between 85 and 110 cm, there are still plenty of downed trees/rocks/snow snakes under the snow to avoid. Tips up! We observed no avalanche activity during our trip.
Snowpack at trailhead at roughly 4400' was about 10-15cm deep when we returned on 12/12, almost all from the weekend's storms. We fortunately did not see evidence of the impacts of the windstorm present farther north in the FAC forecast zone.
