15 Jan - powder, cracking

Remained close to home today for a simple bit of quick skiing and then back to the pc to prep for more very busy times ahead. 40cm at 1550m today above yesterday's 20cm. Plenty of that 40cm has ben wind effected and is a little dense and punchy. Subtle in places, but you could feel it. Not loose powder, but soft-slabby and cracking 100cm ahead of my skis on many test slopes. We also saw some skier triggered size 1 slabs on small contained slopes. There was also some cornice triggered size 1 slabs about. All of this in combination: tactile slabby feeling, shooting cracks, and skier triggered and natural small slabs in the very new storm snow had us playing easy on ridges and in trees, and it was no big deal. There was certainly multiple Size 2 avalanches out there today waiting to be triggered by skiers on the wrong type of terrain. All the shears we looked at were happening in the lower density buried snow which fell on Sunday night, and may remain preserved and unstable under this slabbier snow for a while, or it may just settle out. Lets see how that unfolds