A change in the weather is on tap and I'm expecting a good shot of snow, water, and wind beginning Thursday. Of course this means avalanche conditions will change rapidly through the weekend. Read on to the details below to get a handle on the type of avalanche dragon you can expect to encounter if you're headed to the mountains.
Active weather begins on Thursday. Winds start ramping up tonight in advance of a weakening trough that crosses the area tomorrow. This is the warm up band and we'll see periods of light to moderate snow... 3"-6" expected by late in the day with a break scheduled for Friday. The main event is still on tap for Friday night and Saturday. Click
HERE for a great viddy synopsis created by our good friends and partners at the National Weather Service.
Our main man Ted Scroggin has been out and about, stomping around Bald Mountain Pass and in Whitney Basin since early November. He reports a thin, yet layered snowpack with about 18" of snow on the ground on upper elevation, north facing slopes.
This is exactly the type of terrain that's gonna be sketchy as the holiday storm evolves.
Wanna avoid avalanche danger this weekend? Of course you do and it's easy. Simply avoid any mid or upper slope that has pre-existing, early season snow Your exit strategy is to swing around to souuth facing terrain where you can ride without the worry of avalanches breaking to weak snow near the ground.
No recent avalanche activity to report