In the alpine you can run, but ya can't hide. Bald Mountain got torched by recent winds. Andy noted... "the textured surface on the ridge where wind-drifted snow has been deposited on the leeward side of the slope.

Sunday's storm snow conspired with recent winds, forming dense drifts that'll react to our additional weight. The good news is... the hazard is pretty straight-forward and confined to steep, shady, upper elevation terrain, especially slopes that harbor early season snow. The bad news... those are the exact slopes we'll be lured into today because that's where the best coverage is found. But here's the problem... any slide triggered is gonna fail on snow that grew weak and sugary during the November dryspell and that means today's avalanches will break a little deeper and wider than you might expect. The badder news... even a relatively small slide will reveal a myriad of season ending obstacles like stumps and rocks, barely hidden underneath the thin veneer of an early season snowpack.

I know you wanna avoid avalanches so here's your exit strategy and hall-pass for the day. First, get out an enjoy the fresh snow! Second, stretch out the legs on a low angle meadowsor take the sled for a quick road rip. And finally, while you're out and about do a little snowpack CSI, dig a snowpit to see what we're dealing with, and map out the lay of the land. We know winter will eventually return from its hiatus, so a little homework now will give you a better sense for the type of terrain you can ride safely once it does start storming again.

Andy was in the Bald Mountain/Reids Peak zone yesterday and has an awesome video update HERE.