It's no mystery our snowpack is a mess. As a matter of fact, many slopes throughout the range are unsupportable as they harbor layers of weak, sugary, faceted snow found near the bottom of the snowpack (see photo below). On its own accord that's not a big deal, but when we add a cohesive slab on top (strong snow resting on weak snow), now we've got the ingredients coming together for dangerous avalanche conditions. In the wind zone, the slab is very hard and connected across large areas. On slopes sheltered from the wind, the slab is softer but still cohesive enough to produce a slide. In either case, this combo is found mostly on mid and upper elevation terrain facing the north half of the compass and many slopes just wait for a trigger like us to roll along and knock the legs out from underneath. Here's what makes matters complicated... you can trigger avalanches by simply riding under a steep slope, so part of today's avalanche strategy must include staying off and out from under steep terrain.

The viddy below demonstrates how there's no structure or base to our snowpack.

The photo below clearly shows the weak faceted snow near the ground. There is also a weak layer of facets in the middle of the snowpack on which avalanches can also fracture.

Recent winds (see video below) had no problem whipping up stiff wind drifts which will react to our additional weight, but they're camouflaged under this weekends storm snow and they're hard to detect. But here's what I know... you'll find them on the leeward side of ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies. Today you'll want to look for and avoid any fat, rounded, piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum. And remember- triggering even a small wind drift offers the potential to quickly get out of hand if that piece of snow breaks into deeper buried weak layers as it crashes onto the slope below.

The video below illustrates Fridays winds at the top of Double Hill.