On some "solar" slopes - particularly those facing east and southeast - there exists a persistent weak layer (PWL) of facets just above a crust which was buried by storms beginning February 14. Mark Staples's photo below shows this structure which can be found about 3' below the snow surface. The reactivity of this layer varies from one slope to the next, but it is possible Thursday's large avalanche in Mary Ellen Gulch may have failed on this layer. With many large cornices on many ridgelines, any natural or human-triggered cornice fall may trigger an avalanche failing on this PWL.

I'm handling this problem by avoiding it and heading to northerly facing slopes where the snow quality is superior and this avalanche problem doesn't exist.

Strong sunshine and warm temperatures will create wet-loose avalanches on steep sunny slopes. On mid and upper elevation slopes facing southeast, any wet avalanches may trigger larger slab avalanches failing on the PWL. Wet snow is the easiest avalanche problem to avoid by simply moving to shady slopes once the snow surface becomes wet.

Strong winds this past week created dense slabs of wind-drifted snow at the upper elevations and some mid-elevation slopes facing northwest through southeast. Some of these wind drifts may be reactive if they formed on top of graupel. The graupel layers vary, but they can often be found below steeper cliff bands where graupel can pool (accumulate). Natural or human-triggered cornice falls could cause a larger avalanche failing on a wind-loaded slope. Any recent wind drifts were covered by snowfall Wednesday night, so you will need to dig down 1-2' to search for them.