Observation: Ant Knolls

As the upper snowpack settles, it is becoming firmer. The weak layer shows no notable sign of strengthening. Though stability tests are producing mixed results with several pits producing ECTx or ECTp's in the upper 20's, the weak layer is still soft and weak, and I don't trust it. This layer produced significant activity over the last week and is responsible for 3 avalanche fatlalities..as we add more snow and continue to stress the weak layer, I expect we'll see more significant avalanches that can be triggered from a distance and produce wide and deep avalanches.

I traveled with extreme caution today, making sure to avoid travel on and beneath steep slopes. The nature of this setup is that you can trigger avalanches from low-angle terrain and from several hundred feet away.

Even at lower elevations near 8000 feet, this problem exists and may be more sensitive and easier to trigger since the slab is thinner. There were many rider triggered avalanchces just off the sides of the road banks last week, including another near miss from a timbersled climbing below the road bank and triggering an avalanche into a gully.