Thes main problem today was the wind slabs formed from yesterday's strong winds with the passage of the cold front. They blew quite hard from the northwest and created fairly widespread wind erosion and deposition in the upper elevation wind exposed terrain. Most of the wind damage occurred above 10,000' with very little wind at lower elevations. These wind drifts are mostly hard and I could get many of them to crack under my weight.

The wind slabs are not only a problem today but with the expected strong winds from the south forecast for tomorrow, we will be in for a whole new round of wind slabs, this time from southerly winds instead of the northwesterly winds from yesterday. If it ain't one thing it's the other. If tomorrow's winds get into the lower elevation terrain, there is a lot of loose, snow on the snow surface to blow around, especially on the mid elevation, northerly facing terrain. With tomorrow's wind, I would expect that the wind slab problems will actually be worse down off the ridges. Yesterday's wind already blew the snow around so there is much less snow available for transport.

Avalanches require both a slab and a weak layer. If tomorrow's winds get into the mid elevation northerly terrain, we will have both ingredients. As always, avoid steep slopes with recent wind deposits.