I'll keep it simple.... it's no mystery, the structure of 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 overnight, winter returned from its hiatus, deciding to deliver a respectable amount of snow, water, and wind. That big sudden thump on the snowpack is gonna instantly wake it up, it'll be cranky, and it's ticked off by this rapid change. And mid and upper elevation terrain facing the north half of the compass is most suspect, as many slopes are at their tipping point, while others wait for a trigger like us to roll along and knock the legs out from underneath. In either case, you can trigger avalanches by simply traveling underneath a steep slope slope, so part of today's avalanche strategy must include staying off and out from under steep terrain and avoiding avalanche runout zones.

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.

Winds are always the big game changer in the Uinta's and the two shot combo of storm snow and stiff winds have no problem whipping up cohesive wind drifts which will react to our additional weight. Found mostly on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, also be on the lookout for drifts forming lower downslope than we usually expect to see and around terrain features like chutes, gullies, and road cuts. In addition, 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.

Just the shear volume of new snow creates unusual avalanche conditions even at lower elevations where we snowshoe, sled, trailrun, or take the dog for a walk. That said... any steep snow covered slope needs to be avoid. And remember- even a small avalanche has huge consequence when snow stacks up deeply in a terrain trap like a gully, streambed, or road cut.