Southwest winds ramped up on Thursday, blowing in the 30's and 40's for nearly 24 hours. If it were the middle of winter and we had plenty of snow to blow around the avy danger would be off the hook. Instead, much of our south facing terrain is bare and brushy and there's little snow available for transport. The flip side to this is... it never ceases to amaze me how wind can find a little bit of snow and form slabs that break deeper and wider than we might expect. While not overly sensitive to our additional weight, if your travels take you into upper elevation terrain facing the north half of the compass, I'd look for and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum. Remember- even a shallow slide can take you for a nasty ride through rocks and stumps barely hidden under our shallow snowpack.
Even though winds were strong, there's still lots of bushes poking out and not much snow available for transport.
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