South and southwest winds will crank throughout the day at the upper elevations, before a cold front sweeps through the region after lunch. While most of our southerly aspects are crusty and baked by yesterday's strong sunshine, it never ceases to amaze me how winds can find snow in the most obscure places and whip up a fresh batch of wind slabs. That's gonna be today's most obvious and most predictable avalanche concern. Forming on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges and cross loaded in chutes and gullies, today's slabs won't be overly deep, widespread, or sensitive, but they do have the potential to take you for an unexpected ride. Today's slabs are found on slopes facing the north half of the compass. Look for and avoid fat looking, rounded pillows of snow, particularly if they sound hollow like a drum.

We might've forgotten about them, but our problem child, the January facets, aren't going away anytime soon. As a matter of fact they've been having a great time partying in our shallow snowpack, growing weak and sugary, and getting cranky when we tease them. While not widespread, avalanches breaking into this nefariously tricky weak layer aren't out of the question. It's counter-intuitive, but some of our weakest snow is found mid slope in steep, shady terrain. Best way to avoid getting tricked is to tone your slope angles down and think about not only the snow you're riding in, but also the snow you're riding on. Strong snow on weak snow is a dangerous combination and it allows us to get well out onto the slope before triggering a slide. If you feel the bottom falling out from under your machine and you're track is sinking into weak sugary snow that's a big red flag.

While not huge, this slide clearly shows the January facets still alive and well. This slide was triggered on the 13th on a steep north facing slope in upper Whitney Basin at about 10, 400' in elevation.

If you ever have questions about avalanche conditions on the North Slope... hit this guy up. Ted Scroggin knows the place like no other. Here, Ted takes a look at our pit results which failed on the January facets. The ECT column propagated with 22 taps, producing a Q1 shear. This tells us the snowpack needs a bit of a thump, but has the potential to break as a slab and with energy. Bottom line... it's a bit of a red flag.