Temperatures warmed overnight, winds continue to crank, and dense snow is falling with more to come. All these factors are going to test the strength of our structurally challenged snowpack. The good news is... additional snow is making travel a bit easier and now we have a few more options to move around on the snow. But in all reality, upper elevation terrain facing the north half of the compass is really the only game in town. The bad news with this terrain option is... these slopes are also the most dangerous because they harbor weak, shallow old snow left over from early season storms. And the honest news is.... we've got a fragile snowpack with potentially dangerous layering and today's storm is clearly the game changer.

So here's the setup-

Strong winds and dense, heavy, storm snow formed a cohesive piece of snow (slab) on top of a suspect, early season snow structure. Now here's the problem with this combo- while the snowpack feels strong underneath our skis, board, or sled, we've gotta think not only about the snow we're traveling in, but also the snow we're traveling on and right now, we've got some junk in the trunk. Once triggered, even a small avalanche may break a bit deeper and wider than you might expect, failing on the mid portion of the pack, revealing obstacles hidden under the thin facade of our early season snowpack. Remember- any slide could easily result in a season ending injury if you get raked over stumps, rocks, or deadfall. So the best way to avoid unpredictable avalanche conditions is to avoid where it exists. We can still have a great day by playing in big open meadows and simply staying off of and out from under steep terrain facing the north half fo the compass.

Winds have cranked for the past 24 hours and there's no shortage of snow available to blow around and form sensitive drifts that'll be reactive to our additional weight. And now there's even more wind! The majority of today's drifts are found on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, but because of variable wind direction and strength, they've also formed lower downslope and may cross-loaded terrain features like chutes and gullies. You're best bet for avoidance is to simply steer clear of any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it looks chalky or sounds hollow like a drum. In addition, look for and listen to clues like whoomphing sounds or shooting cracks in the snow which are sure signs of unstable conditions.

I observed weak surface snow over the weekend, but now it's buried and hidden underneath several layers of storm snow. This makes for a tricky setup where we can trigger avalanches from a distance or even an adjacent slope.