We will not be issuing daily forecasts with danger ratings this season. We simply do not have enough information for this level of detail. We will be keeping an eye on the snowpack and will post a detatiled summary of conditions on Saturday mornings. Mid-week updates will be provided as weather conditions dictate.
NW winds began to back off after midnight after blowing in the 25-35 mph range for most of the day yesterday. Cloud cover overnight has kept things warm. Today look for gradually decreasing clouds, light NW winds, and high temps in the mid 20's. No white Christmas this year I'm afraid as warmer temps and sunny skies reign through the weekend. A return to a stormy pattern mid next week is currently being advertised.
Snowpack Summary and General Conditions
Matt Cozart was up again yesterday and sent another
great report on conditions. The bottom line is that the overall snowpack structure is poor. Weak, faceted snow exists in the lower pack. This problem has been compounded by recent wind loading. Strong winds yesterday blew and drifted snow and creating fresh slabs in wind exposed terrain. Avoid steep slopes that show signs of recent wind drifting. Wind drifts are recognizable by their smooth, rounded appearance, and cracking is a sign of instability. Wind drifts form on the leeward sides of ridge crests and terrain features such as gully walls and subridges. Another red flag sign of instability is collapsing, or whumphing. This indicates that the underlying poor snowpack structure is incapable of supporting the weight of the overlying snow. If you observe this, you know you have an unstable situation and steep terrain should be avoided.
In most cases, snow cover is still a little too thin to access avalanche terrain, but all steep, wind drifted slopes that have enough snow to ride are suspect, and human triggered avalanches are possible in these areas.
For more on the current state of the snowpack, see the video below.
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