Winds are beginning to pick up ahead of a strong cold front slated to swing through the state in the next couple of hours. There's no shortage of light density snow to blow around and it won't take much wind to whip up a fresh batch of wind drifts. Slabs will quickly grow in size and depth as the winds increase throughout the day. Fat, rounded pillows of snow are your biggest clue to wind loaded terrain. Look for and avoid these especially on steep leeward slopes facing the north half of the compass. Avalanche conditions will become increasingly tricky today and slides will break wider and deeper than you might anticipate.

Today's wind and snow will form a dense, cohesive slab making the snow feel strong and solid under our track, board, or skis. Problem is, all this additional weight will overload our problem child, the January facets, now buried several feet from the snow surface. Strong snow on weak snow is a tricky combination and it's these type of snow conditions that allow us to get well out onto the slope before it fails and we trigger a deep, dangerous slide.

Adding a tricky variable to the mix is that some of our weakest snow is found mid slope, making us particularly vulnerable when climbing from the bottom or when we're low on the slope. Not every steep northerly facing slope is going to avalanche and that'll give us a false sense of snow stability. Remember- all we need to find is a weak spot in the snowpack and kick the legs out from under the slab. Best way to avoid getting tricked is to manage your terrain choices.

More images from Thursday's slide on The Duke. Our snowpack is relatively thin for mid February and you can clearly see this slide broke to weak snow, especially near and around rocks low on the slope.