Strong winds from the south and southwest ramped up yesterday morning, continuing through a good portion of the day, whipping up a fresh batch of stiff, yet mostly stubborn drifts. However, it never ceases to amaze me how winds can channel snow through terrain features and load slopes in unusual places. I suspect most drifting occurred on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges, but be on the lookout and avoid any fat, rounded piece of snow, especially if it sounds hollow like a drum.

A few Black Swans preen in our snowpack, but all the right elements for this unlikely event need to align perfectly. Think... steep, rocky, wind loaded slopes, in the windzone that have avalanched multiple times this year. Or in other words... you'd really have to get unlucky. Rather than try to out-guess the snowpack, just keep it simple and avoid places where you think there's a good chance of hitting rocks which in turn are likely places to trigger a deep, dangerous avalanhche.