The good news... last weeks storm lit up the Uintas, pasting the range with a thick coat of white paint, and our backyard looks like winter!

The bad news... big snow, big water, and big wind equals a tremendous amount of weight (stress) stacking up on our mid December drought layer. Indeed, the snowpack is up against the ropes and reeling from this body bruising trifecta.

Now for the flake news... just like a migrating school of white sharks this setup isn't going away quickly, so we need to go to the mountains on its terms, give the snowpack some time to adjust, and simply avoid the sharks habitat. Perhaps over time these visiting apex predators leave their feeding grounds and we can paddle out into the lineup. However, now is the time to pump the brakes, practice some patience, know it's a long season and we've got plenty more opportunities to ride fresh pow.

Winds from nearly every direction, started cranking last Friday and continued tipping cows through the weekend, penetrating terrain we usually consider sheltered. With no shortage of snow available to blow around you'll find hard, dense, wind drifts in unusual locations and lower down slope than we expect to see. A problem unto themselves no doubt, but once triggered, any new or older drift can break into deeper buried weak layers as it crashes down on the slope below, creating a much larger slide than you might've bargained for. The ticket is to avoid fat rounded pillows of snow, especially if they sound hollow like a drum.