Weak, sugary snow... it's the Uinta's Achilles heel and the culprit to a hand-full of recent human triggered slides this week. While not widespread, hard to trigger, and even harder to detect, today's avalanches still have the potential to break to weak snow near the ground. Our usual suspects come to mind... steep, rocky slopes with a thin, shallow snowpack. If you're getting into terrain with these characteristics remember- even a small slide breaking to the ground could quickly get out of hand, especially in steep committing terrain. With all the good options for riding today, there's really no reason to pull on the dogs tail.

This is a great example of what we're dealing with and what makes persistent slabs so unpredictable. On Thursday in Upper Weber Canyon, this heavily wind loaded Northeast facing slope was triggered from a sub-ridge about 20' feet away... after it had already been skied... tricky for sure. In addition, Ted and I experienced a heart-stopping collapse on a steep, rocky, slope with a thin shallow snowpack in Upper Chalk Creek yesterday.

It's March and the sun is getting intense. As the day heats up and particularly if you're feeling like an ant under a magnifying glass, you'll want to get off of and out from under steep, sunny slopes. In addition, avoid terrain traps like gullies and road cuts where wet, cement-like debris can pile up very deeply.

Cornices aren't the ginormous monsters we're used to seeing this time of year, but they're definitely big enough to let you know who's boss. You'll want to avoid these unpredictable boxcars, especially during the heat of the day.