It's remarkable to me that we're still taking about avalanches breaking to the ground and here it is the first week of April when we're usually enjoying manageable avalanches conditions on a solid, go anywhere base. This year it's different and the cold dryspell during January sealed the deal, helping to create and then preserve a very weak base. Up until the last series of storms we were good to go because there was no slab. Now however, the storm snow has settled and consolidated into a dense layer of snow. Unfortunately it rests on a persistent weakness (a very weak layer of depth hoar) and we've got all the ingredients for an unmanageable avalanche. Making conditions more sketchy is that you can ride plenty of slopes and be good to go, but if you find the right combination of strong snow overlying weak sugary snow chances are you're gonna collapse the slope and be staring down the barrel of a very dangerous slide. Our problem child hasn't gone away and steep, rocky slopes remain suspect. If you're travels take you onto a snowpack that feels punchy and you find yourself sinking into weak sugary snow, carefully evaluate the kind of terrain you're headed to and the kind of terrain you're connected to. Rather than complicating matters, you can avoid avalanches altogether and still have a blast carving on low angle slopes today.

Winds are gonna be all over the place the next 24 hours and fresh wind drifts along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges and around terrain features like chutes and gullies are today's most obvious avalanche dragon. Manageable early in the day, though as the storm develops, expect the drifts to become more widespread and more sensitive. It's a good day to tweak small test slopes and road cuts to see how they're reacting before getting after big terrain.