For an avalanche forecaster, watching the snowpack develop is like watching your child grow. Fortunately, I think we're starting to get out of the teenage years where you just look at the snowpack and it gets riled, but I still think there's enough uncertainty to warrant continued caution before handing over the keys to the car and turning our backs. While snow stability tests and overall snowpack depths are encouraging, the biggest clue to avalanches is avalanches, and recent avalanche activity illustrates the tricky nature of this setup.

The good news is... the Uinta snowpack has gotten a lot deeper after last weekend's series of storms. The bad news is... recent snowfall made the slab much thicker and more dangerous. In places where the slab is thickest, avalanches are harder to trigger because it is harder to impact weak snow near the ground. However, thin spots, like around rocks or bushes, are often good trigger points and all we need to do is collapse the slope, trigger the slide, and now the entire seasons snowpack is crashing down on us. Mark was in Lakes Country yesterday and has a great observation along with some advice on how to travel safely given these conditions posted HERE.

The photo below shows weak snow near the ground, and how a snowmobile can stay on top of the snowpack. However, there are a lot of different ways for a sled or a skier to impact the weak layer. Because the snowpack is not the same depth across a slope, it's easy to hit a thin spot and trigger an avalanche. Tracks on a slope DO NOT mean it is stable.

And more travel advice from Ted Scroggin... a savvy, avy pro who knows the Uinta Mountains better than anyone. He offers these sage words... "To me, these are tricky conditions, there were some natural avalanches, some slopes have filled back in, and things look and feel good to go. Normally this time of year we are starting to venture out more on bigger slopes, but the current snowpack is still not to be trusted even though conditions feel great under our sleds and skis."

Near the high ridges, recent winds, formed dense slabs on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies. Problem is... older drifts are covered over with fresh snow, making them hard to detect. And remember- wind slabs add additional stress to buried persistent weak layers keeping them on edge and ready to fracture and produce an avalanche. So today, today you'll want to look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it feels hollow like a drum.