A northeast facing slope at 10,500' in the Gold Hill area, where a persistent slab avalanche released naturally one to two feet deep, failing on weak snow near the ground, and wrapping around terrain features a couple of hundred feet wide toward a nearby ridge. Our main man Ted Scroggin was on case and more deets on this Gold Hill slide from Ted's awesome write-up are found, here.

Yesterday, I found the snowpack stiff, somewhat shrink-wrapped, and not nearly as reactive as earlier in the week. But man, I'm not ready to hang my hat (as if I owned one :) on the snowpack structure 'cause it's an untrustworthy gong show. Remember, early season snow turned persistent weak layer homesteads beneath a strong, dense, cohesive slab that developed from several storms worth of snow, coupled with strong winds. But it's not a one-size-fits-all kinda snowpack and the biggest clue to our quirky snowpacks personality are recently triggered avalanches on mid and upper elevation, polar slopes, breaking 1-3 feet deep, failing on old snow near the ground. Steep, rocky slopes with a thin, shallow snowpack are at the center of the bullseye terrain and need to be avoided.

Here's the conundrum... in wind-sheltered, mid-elevation terrain, the slab is softer and not quite as reactive, but let's not take our eyes off the prize... it's still a strong snow over weak snow setup and that structure is always a big, red flag.

Remember, we can trigger persistent slab avalanches remotely or from a distance. Once initiated, today's avalanches may break deeper and wider than we expect, taking us for a body-bruising ride, raking us through rocks, trees, stumps, or deadfall.

Red flags are keeping us on our toes on the north half of the compass and can't be ignored. All the snowpros I knows are observing no shortage of audible collapses and cracks shooting out hundreds of feet around them.

A steep, thin, and rocky ridge on a north facing slope around 10,300' that has a dense wind-drift in the starting zone.

I suspect most of our snow is either welded or pressed in place and I bet you'd have to go out of your way to trigger a piece of wind drifted snow. However, the Uinta's are a big zone and the terrain can channel snow into unusual places. That said, I'm gonna continue to look for and avoid dense, textured, rounded pillows of snow, especially if they sound hollow like a drum. I'm also steering clear of cross-loaded terrain features like chutes, gully walls, and cut banks.

Note to self... stiff, hard slabs can feel supportable and solid under our rig, allowing us to get further out onto the slope before we kick the legs out from underneath. Lose the wind and you lose the problem.