While avalanche activity has become more hit or miss the past few days, the fact remains, we have an unusual snowpack structure for the western Uinta's right now. No, it's not our usual weak mess of sugary snow that feels like a sandbox. On the contrary, it's actually comprised of a complex mix of crusts and fragile, sugary facets sandwiched in between. So... the snowpack has body and it has structure. It also has the Christmas storm on top that consolidated into a cohesive slab. We have all the ingredients for a slab avalanche and many steep, wind drifted slopes are just waiting for a trigger like us to come along and knock the legs out from underneath it.
Ted's pit above clearly illustrates what we're dealing with. Our problem child is a persistent slab and that's an issue because anything "persistent" in the snowpack takes a long time to heal. But we don't need to roll the dice and hope for the best. The way we manage this avalanche dragon is avoidance. Simply avoid the terrain the avalanche dragon lives in... steep, mid and upper elevation, wind drifted slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass.
Chad was in the Hoyt Peak environs and experienced multiple large collapses as well as some interesting snowpit stability test scores. Click here for all the deets.
The good news is, you don't have to stay home and hide under your bed. There's plenty of good riding on low angle slopes and big open meadows. In addition, there are plenty of south facing slopes throughout the range, like the one pictured above, where you can ride and you don't even have to deal with the issue of faceted snow.