Above 9,000' on the north half of the compass, old snow grew weak and sugary over the past month and is now buried between 1-3 feet beneath the new slab. Today's persistent slab avalanches exist on shady, upper-elevation, rocky slopes and can break 1-2 feet deep and up to a couple of hundred feet wide. During our travels yesterday we experienced a couple of red flags, like cracking and collapsing. So it's easy to break out the shovel and take a deeper look under the snowpack's hood. Quick excavation will reveal a dense slab over weak sugary snow, creating the trap-door feeling when trenching our sled or ski track. Remember, these types of avalanches can be triggered remotely or from a distance, meaning we don't have to be on the steep slope to trigger the slide.

I am suspect of steep, rocky slopes with a northerly component and enough snow to ride, like the one above. This is the type of slope I am avoiding right now at all costs.

Southwesterly winds averaging 20 MPH blew snow overnight and continued to load our weak snowpack structure. Over the past few days, fresh and sensitive drifts have been pressed into stiff hard slabs on the leeward sides of ridges and upper elevation slopes. Although stubborn, today's drifts will be 6-12 inches deep, and once triggered, could break deeper and wider than we might expect, falling into weak snow near the ground. It's a little tricky out there, but remember, we can steer clear of the hazard by looking for and avoiding wind-textured snow and large, rounded pillows near ridges and rocky start zones.

Above, a Level 1 avalanche course and its students observe wind-textured snow and rounded pillows on a ridge near Wolf Creek Pass at 9,800'.