Not much wind in the past 24 hours, though the Uinta's are huge place and I bet there's a shallow, rogue drift that could surprise ya. Found mostly on the leeward side of ridges, it wouldn't surprise me to encounter a rounded, fat piece of snow reactive to my additional weight on a cross-loaded terrain feature like a chute or gully wall. So, I remind myself... even a small slide in consequential terrain could ruin my winter season if it strains me through rocks, cliffs, or trees.

Fortunately, we can steer clear of this problem today... lose the wind and you lose the problem. Simply lose some elevation and hone in on wind sheltered terrain. In addition, look for and avoid fat, rounded pillows of snow on the leeward side of ridges, gully's, and cut banks, particularly if they look textured or sound hollow like a drum. And finally, stomp around on small test slopes like road cuts similar to what you wanna ride and see how they're reacting before pulling the trigger on a big slope.