With a little snow left over in the high country from September and October storms and the winter starting to approach, it's time to start keeping an eye on the condition of the snow. What we are doing is looking at existing snow to see if it is becoming weak and might act as a weak layer which produces avalanches once it gets buried by more snow.

As of October 29, 2017, there is about 3 to 6 inches of snow on the more northerly facing slopes above about 9600 feet. My opinion is that it is not overly weak and is not really a concern at this time. Since the sunny slopes and all slopes below 9600' don't have any snow, there obviously are no worries at those locations.

I'll continue to keep an eye on the existing snow as well as any additional snow as more storms roll through.