Winds are always the great equalizer on the eastern front and yesterday was no differant. Even without any fresh snow to work with, stout wind slabs were forming on upper elevation slopes, particularly those facing the north half of the compass. The bad news... these will be hard to detect because now they're covered over with fresh snow. Clues to unstable snow include shooting cranks and whoomphing sounds or collapses of the snowpack. The bummer with a shallow snowpack and low tide conditions is, triggering even a small slide greatly increases your chances of slamming into a season ending rock or stump.

The good news... your exit strategy is simple and you can still have a blast today by avoiding steep, shady terrain facing the north half of the compass. South facing slopes like the one pictured above with little or no old snow are gonna be the ticket.

Here's where it gets tricky. We've got a complex snowpack with a myriad of crusts and weak, sugary snow sandwiched in between. While yesterday's storm lacked water weight, I still don't entirely trust our snowpack structure and I'm not gonna hang it out for a few fresh powder shots. As a matter of fact, this layering is the kind of combination when I see the vast majority of close calls and near misses in the western Uinta's. Persistent weaknesses in the snowpack complicate the avalanche stability picture because this structure allows you to get well out onto the slope before it fails. Once initiated, an avalanche triggered today could quickly get of hand as it breaks to weaker snow near the ground. Remember- there are plenty of sunny slopes you can ride throughout the range where you don't even have to deal with this issue.

The snowpit above clearly illustrates the complex snow structure on shady, north facing slopes.