General Observations

12/24- Loveland Basin up to ~3700′. North through east aspects, 26° F at the road/ overcast/ moderate ridge top winds creating light to moderate snow transport/ no precipitation turning to light snow later in the day.

Shooting Cracks: Yes

Collapsing: No

Avalanches:No

Found 2 feet of settled storm snow since 12/21 in protected areas.   In areas exposed to wind, new snow had been redistributed into soft (fist hard) windslabs on the lee side of ridge lines up to 4 feet deep.  These were reactive just below ridge lines with shooting cracks up to 10 feet long .  This instability was not widespread on lee aspects at this time, but rather only existed just below ridge lines at this location.  Hand shear tests produced moderate-hard results in protected areas with easy results just below ridges.  Pit results at ~3200’/ north aspect/ produced ECTN2 down 10 cms and ECTN14 down 45 cms, HS 210cms.  A hard smooth plane existed 85cms down, but showed no reaction. Didn’t travel above 4000′ due to flat light.