Stiff Crust and New Snow in Lionhead

Today, we rode from the Buttermilk trailhead to Ski Hill then up to Lionhead Ridge.

At the top of Ski Hill, there was a 2" thick supportable crust below 2" of new snow from the last 24 hours. We dug here on a NE-facing slope at 8000', almost the entire snowpack was moist/wet. We had ECTX results in our stability tests. Just to the north of our pit location we saw a small wet loose avalanche that likely happened earlier this week. Along Lionhead Ridge 2-4" of new snow was beginning to form small drifts that were unreactive on test slopes. On the north side of the ridge, we saw areas where portions of cornice had fallen over the last week of warm temperatures. Snow continued on and off through the day with little to no accumulation. West wind remained light throughout the day with moderate gusts.