General Observations

Lutak Zone: Lots of new snow in the mountains! At 1000' there is 25cm of new, and at 2000' there is 35cm. Below 1000' there was 5-15cm of new, although with the warming temperatures throughout the day the snow is  melting off. We saw strong S winds and intense blowing snow in unsheltered terrain that were building fresh and sensitive wind slabs down to well below treeline. In an E facing, lee, 30-35 degree small opening in the trees I was able to initiate a failure that propagated across the slope (~10ft) although the slab didn't peel out. Failed at the interface between the old and new snow and the slab was F+ hardness overlaying F hard near surface facets. The bond between the old and new is generally poor with easy shears and a fairly cohesive slab atop the weak snow. Skies were generally obscured by blowing snow, and the precip rate varied from none to S3 with a general clearing trend through the day. When we left at 3PM the snow at 1200' was getting very heavy and gloppy and the falling snow transitioned to rain around at 700'.