As the snowpack slowly becomes comfortable in its own skin, avalanches are harder to trigger.... good news! And there are plenty of slopes to ride and not trigger avalanches.... better news! However, the problem with persistent weak layers in the snowpack is they linger for long periods of time and often suggest a false sense of snow stability because the snow will feel solid and stable under our skis, board, or sled. But remember, all it takes is for us to find one weakness on the slope, perhaps where it's thin like by a rock or bush we can't see under the snow, collapse the pack, and now all bets are off.... we're staring down the barrel of a dangerous slide.

It doesn't mean we can't ride, but it's tricky out there and here's why. Many steep slopes throughout the range experienced a widespread natural avalanche cycle late last week, but recent snow and wind has filled in much of that evidence. So today it's all gonna look white and that's the challenge. You can ride some slopes without incident (perhaps they already slid) and think you're good to go, while an adjacent slope that remained intact throughout the storm, is just waiting for a trigger like us to roll up and tip the balance.

Of course you wanna know... "how do we manage an unmanageable avalanche?" Well with all the great riding out there and plenty of alternative options, we simply avoid the terrain where it exists. You know the drill by now.... steep, rocky, wind drifted slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass. Listen to this groups decision making process here.

This viddy clearly illustrates our current setup. Bo and Andy commented, "In some test pits it was very easy to initiate failures and in others, it was more difficult. The common theme among all of the tests was that they were breaking deep in the snowpack on old snow. This tells me that in some areas, the avalanches might be less sensitive to trigger but if you trigger an avalanche it will break deep."