We went up the lower and middle slopes of Mt Stewart today to check up on how the instability we found Sunday was changing over time. We found hard, extensive, 30 cm thick slabs in windslab areas that are still quite sensitive and likely to trigger with human traffic, new snow, or rain. Expect an avalanche cycle with the next big rainstorm. Volumes in starting zones remain fairly low, but areas that have not already slid are very likely to release, and some may reach lower elevations.

The weak layer is within the snow from the last storm, in lower density dry snow that fell early on the evening of the 18th. Early Sunday the 19th, increasing wind and warming temperatures laid a dense windslab over the dry snow from early in the storm. We found instability Sunday, and hoped it might settle out if the temperatures stayed mild and there was no new load. But the higher elevation dry windslab areas are still NOT settled and remain unstable. The wetter snow below 600 m is settled and showed no signs of instability.

Snow quality is better than Sunday, in that it is easier to keep moving without the submarine action, but the crust up high is now stiffer so it catches ski edges, and below 500 m there is a nasty ski-grabbing thaw crust on the surface.

Due to widespread sensitive windslab, a glimpse of the bowl that showed that only half of it released during the storm while our half remained poised and weak, poor visibility, difficult snow, and a big slope, we backed off, climbed back up to Bunny Tow Pass, and descended our uptrack.