Ted was in the Gold Hill zone Tuesday and noted this large, natural slide on Double Hill. It's a couple days old, but mirrors exactly the kind of snow structure and terrain where we could still trigger a deep, scary avalanche today.

I don't think today's fresh snow or water weight is enough to tip the balance, but there's plenty of slopes throughout the range that are still adjusting to last weekends big storm and will come to life with a little provocation. And while it's becoming more the exception than the rule, I suspect the usual suspects like steep, rocky slopes with a shallow, weak snowpack, could react to our additional weight. Sure, we might forget about deeply buried weak layers, but the snowpack has an amazing memory. Remember, all we need to do is find a thin portion of the snowpack, like around a rock or bush, collapse the weak layer (whumpf), and now we're staring down the barrel of a dangerous avalanche.

Since we don't have avalanche goggles (patent pending :) and can't see where these landmines exist, I'm moving with caution and intent by slowing down, gathering facts, and reminding myself... even though we're into January, our snowpack is in it's infancy and barely comfortable in its own skin. i also know persistent slabs are tricky, unmanageable avalanche dragons, and instead of trying to outsmart the snowpack, I'm gonna use avalanche avoidance and terrain management as my go-to tools.

There's enough low density storm snow available to blow around and team up with increasing ridgetop winds, and that combo easily whips up a fresh round of drifts reactive to our additional weight. This avalanche dragon is straight-forward and I'm looking for and avoiding fat, rounded pillows of snow, especially on the leeward side of ridges, chutes, gully walls, and cut banks. In addition, I'm gonna steer clear of hard, dense drifts, especially if they sound hollow like a drum.

And finally, cornices are getting meaty, will be touchy today, and are gonna pack a punch. Give 'em plenty of room, and remember, a cornice tumbling down on the slope below can easily trigger a larger avalanche that gets quickly out of hand.