Recent winds and warm temperatures helped to form a strong cohesive slab and it's resting on fragile, old October snow... or what we call a persistent weak layer (PWL). And while last night's storm snow may feel light, fluffy, and harmless we've gotta remember- not only the snow we're riding in, but also the snow we're riding on. Yep... this is the classic "strong snow on weak snow" setup and that's always a dangerous combination in our mountains. This combo makes snow feel strong under our skis, board, or sled and often allows us to get well out onto the slope before the weak layer fails (often around a bush or rock we can't see under the snow), the avalanche breaks above us, and now the entire seasons snowpack crashes down on top of us.

Now here's where it gets tricky... there's a fresh blanket of snow coating our mountains and everything's gonna look white. In fact, it'll be more difficult to determine what slopes held early season snow. But remember... terrain that faces the south half of the compass and lower elevation slopes were bare prior to last weeks big storm. And while there's plenty of gear wrecking rocks and stumps to slam into, there's no old snow and avalanche issues are straight-forward.

Strong southerly winds blasted the high ridges for the past 72 hours and there was plenty of loose snow to work with to form fresh wind drifts along the leeward side of mid and upper elevation ridges. And all of that was before last nights storm! Now all of those older drifts are covered over with fresh snow, making them harder to detect and today will be tricky. So, a good rule of thumb is to simply avoid any steep slope facing the north half of the compass, especially if it appears fat and rounded or sounds hollow like a drum. With sustained strong winds, I wouldn't be too surprised to find drifting on slopes we usually consider sheltered from the wind.