Winds cranked along the high peaks all day Thursday, lingering into the early portion of Friday morning. Gusting into the 40's and 50's, west and northwest winds found plenty of snow to blow around, easily forming fresh drifts sensitive to the additional weight of a rider. Surprisingly, soft slabs formed not only on the leeward side of ridges, but also lower down slope than you might expect and around terrain features like chutes and gullies.

While generally manageable in size and depth and predictably breaking within the new storm snow, remember that if you’re getting into steep, sustained, technical terrain even a small slide could knock you off your feet or sled and take you for a nasty ride through trees or over a cliff band. Slope cuts on small test slopes like road cuts will give you a good barometer for the kind of avalanche dragon you're dealing with. Get some solid BETA by tweaking small slopes before charging into big terrain today.

Lots of wind loading. Not only on the leeward side of ridges near the summit, but also around terrain features like chutes and gullies.

The sun is high in the sky and it's intense this time of year, rapidly heating the snow surface. Make sure you have an exit strategy planned when slopes become wet during the heat of the day. Avoid being below steep slopes and in confined terrain such as gullies where wet, cement-like snow can pile up very deeply..