Valentine’s Day delivered some white love this morning with 4-5” of rather dense snow in the upper elevations. The storm was a quick hitter and packed a punch with making the backcountry come to life once again when we thought it was put on pause. Some steeper shots were tested this morning with some sloughing, crowning and fracturing, all from skier impact. The new snow was sitting on top of a thin layer of surface hoar sitting in between the new snow and rain/sun/crust layer that we received over the weekend which caused the instability. Caution should certainly be advised today when skiers are looking to push the envelope on steeper terrain. The higher you go the better the snow for sure, but it will move when skied. Pockets of snow were also seen being completely blown out too. Lower elevations only saw 1-2” of snow with a very hard crust layer underneath. Looks like we are back in action for the time being to start exploring again beyond the confines of the resort. Warm weather is on the way for later this week so get out there and take advantage of the small weather and snow windows we have right now.

Photo: Ryan Darlow