Weakening surface near Cooke City

Lots of surface hoar. Those crystals are often destroyed before being buried, but surface hoar is a good sign of weather conditions that are good for near surface faceting.

The upper few inches of snow is a mix of broken snowflakes that are starting to facet a little bit. Not too terrible yet.

Deeper layers of old November snow closer to the ground are faceted and breaking in stability tests. To get an avalanche breaking on those facets, I think you need an old wind slab on top. Even then, I think the sensitivity has dropped a lot. 

We did see one recent wet loose avalanche that started near some exposed rocks in a place that typically gets wet. I did NOT see any wet loose slides in East and Southeast-facing gullies on Barronette peak. However, I'd be nervous ice climbing in these gullies when the sun is hitting them.