Our recent string of warm weather is about to end, but until the snowpack locks up, the dormant weak layers of snow buried near the ground may still be a bit touchy. Making the pattern more complicated and giving us a false sense of stable snow is... not every slope is gonna be reactive to our additional weight. However, those that are, have the possibility to break deeper and wider than you might expect. So, just when you're feeling good about stability... bam, you collapse the slope and now you're staring down the barrel of a scary slide. These are the classic characteristics of an unpredictable, presistent slab. And the way we manage unpredictable avalanche dragons in the mountains is to simply avoid where they live. If you're looking for soft snow and safe riding, simply tone down your slope angles and avoid terrian with steep slopes hanging above you.

Until the snowpack cools off the possibilty of wet activity still prevails, especially if the sun peeks out for any length of time. If the snow you're traveling on is punchy, damp and manky you'll want to get off of and out from under steep sun-exposed slopes. Starting out as just a point release, an avalanche can easily gouge into weaker layers of snow as it crashes down onto the slope below, stacking up deep piles of bone twisting debris.

Weston D caught this image of a wet avalanche fanning out on a steep slope in Weber Canyon yesterday.