Winds are cranking and now they have some snow to work with. As the next shot of snow develops later today and drifting becomes more widespread, I suspect slabs will continue to grow on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges. In addition, there's cross-loaded pockets around terrain features like chutes and gullies. In any case, today you'll want to look for and avoid fat, rounded pieces of snow, especially if they sound and feel hollow like a drum. Todays wind slabs are gonna be connected and once triggered have the potential to break deeper and wider than you might expect.

Here's what I know about the persistent weakness issue in our snowpack.

First- every significant storm that's rolled through the region this season has reactivated our dormant weak layers, especially where the pack remains thin and weak. I think of terrain that has either avalanched this winter or zones that are shallow like the south half of the range from about Soapstone to the Daniels/Strawberry area.

Second- not every steep slope we ride is gonna avalanche and that gives us a false sense of snow stability.

Third and most important- slopes with these characteristics may be reactive to our additional weight and have the possibility to break deeper and wider than you might expect.

It's a lot to digest, but when I'm uncertain about sketchy avalanche dragons, I simply avoid where they live. Steep, mid and upper elevation terrain facing the north half of the compass are prime suspects as are slopes that already avalanched this season. So here's the exit strategy... if you're looking for soft snow and safe riding, simply tone down your slope angles and avoid terrain with steep slopes hanging above you.

The natural slide in the images above is similar to what Dave and Jason triggered yesterday. This extremely connected piece of snow broke to the dirt early Friday morning and stacked up a huge piles of body snapping debris... unsurviveable if you were on the receiving end.