The weather between March 17th through the 20th in the Ogden area was sunny skies, followed by clear and cold nights each day. This lead to a faceting event that was buried on March 20th. As with the avalanches Bill Brandt triggered on the 22nd along with the many collapses reported yesterday one should take caution today. Anytime, we hear reports of collapsing a huge red flag goes off in my head. My strategy for today would be avoidance and I would let the new snow adjust and settle for another day or two.

The good news: is this problem is isolated to sheltered northwest, north and northeast facing terrain above about 7,500' in elevation. The bad news: this is the terrain that will have the best riding conditions today. Before committing to any steep slope, take your shovel out and dig roughly 18" down and identify if this layer is present or not. Or keep your slope angles down (less than 30°) for the next couple days as we figure out what this layer is up to.

Overnight temperatures remained warm in the Ogden area mountains and elevations below 8,000' did not drop below freezing. For today, I would expect the snow at the Mid and Lower elevations to remain damp and soggy. The more new snow and steeper the terrain where you are, the bigger these wet loose avalanches will be. They will likely run on the old melt freeze ice crusts, they may go much further than expected. If the snow is damp, head to lower angle slopes and avoid travel in and below run out zones, like gullies.