General Observations

Toured out Benzine Alley today. Traveled 2 miles out from road to 1400′ before transitioning. Skied snow machine trail out and in. 

Weather was good from morning to afternoon. Overcast. Temperatures stayed below freezing till 2PM, no precipitation till late afternoon, light rain began around 2PM. No wind.

Surface conditions were dynamic throughout the day. 25 – 60 cm new snow began consolidating as temperatures increased throughout day. At 12:30, ski pen was 30 cm. Trail breaking was a mix of wading through syrup and swimming in ping pong balls. Tested snow consolidation with ski track test on fresh snow to determine new storm slab. Did not experience pronounced slab development during our tour. Throughout day, surface snow began rounding, as humidity and precipitation came into play, a small surface crust developed at higher elevations. Below new snow, saw facet growth on top of old crust. On decent, temperatures increased and conditions turned to mashed potatoes. 

No red flags experienced today, we anticipate a storm slab to develop from new snow.