Since Thursday, the Uinta's stacked up nearly four feet of snow with 3.75" H20 and all that weight piled on top of our complex and fragile snowpack. And ya know, for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. In fact, this weekend, multiple weak, sugary layers (PWL) buried deep in our pack roared back to life. There's no mystery to the unstable nature of our snow because the biggest clue to avalanches is... avalanches! And we've seen dozens of slopes facing the north half of the compass produce some monster, tree snapping slides.

Here's where it gets tricky... while many slopes avalanched, there's still plenty more waiting for us to roll along and knock the legs out from underneath. There is no threading the needle. Persistent slab avalanches are unmanageable no matter who you are or what trick you have up your sleeve. The strategy is avoidance. I'm simply avoiding the school of migrating white sharks that are feeding on steep, mid and upper elevation slopes facing the north half of the compass. I refuse to be the guy in the wetsuit that looks like a seal. Eventually the apex predators move on and we'll be good to go... but now is not the time to roll the dice, cause a miscalculation produces a devastating result.

The past few days, mid and upper elevation terrain saw west and southwest winds blowing 20-40 mph, creating drifts reactive to our additional weight. Recent drifts are camouflaged with fresh snow, making them harder to detect. However, you know the drill... keep your eyes peeled for and avoid fat rounded pillows, cornices, and slopes where the snow looks rippled or textured. And remember, even a relatively small avalanche could get quickly out of hand if it steps-down or fails on weak, faceted snow now buried deeply in our snowpack, and that'll pack a bigger punch than you might expect.