Good Stability Until the Reset

We rode from the Sawtelle Parking area up the shoulder of Sawtelle, across Yale Creek and above East Hotel Creek, through Jefferson Bowl, into Hellroaring Creek drainage to the base of Reas before reversing the order and heading out. We saw no avalanches and no signs of instability. Three snowpits (above East Hotel, in Jefferson Bowl, and above Hellroaring) revealed nothing remarkable - ECTXs and ECTNs in the 20s. The south-facing pit above East Hotel had many crust facet sandwiches, but none are currently an issue. It would take a significant load to bring up any concerns about avalanches breaking on persistent weak layers deeper in the storm. 

Stability is good. There are tracks everywhere, and we are looking forward to a reset, hopefully arriving Wednesday night. Most slopes have a melt-freeze crust at the surface. There is no remarkable weakening at the surface to note at this point. Unless something changes between now and Wednesday, instability should be limited to the incoming snow and wind-drifted snow.