Avy-savvy snow-pro, Ted Scroggin was in the Gold Hill zone yesterday and reports... "Some touchy wind slabs today where the near surface faceted snow is preserved under the recent snow and wind. This wind slab broke as I was about 50' away on a little test area I like to visit to see what the winds are doing. I was a bit surprised to find this weak layer still preserved in such a windy location."

Weekend snow coupled with strong winds and warm temperatures continue forming dense wind-drifts in mid and upper elevation, leeward slopes. This trifecta now rests on top of sugary, faceted snow buried a couple feet beneath the snow surface. Here's where it gets tricky... today's drifts are gonna feel quite strong and bomber underneath us, but I wouldn't let my guard down. Strong snow on weaker snow is a mine field and may allow us to get well out onto a slope before breaking above us. Or in the case of Ted's slide yesterday, we might be able to trigger a sizable pocket from a distance.

The avalanche in the image above was triggered yesterday on a steep, heavily wind loaded, northeast facing, mid elevation slope. Initiated in the weekend storm snow and then breaking 3'-5' deep and 500' wide on weak, sugary midpack snow, resulting in a very deep, dangerous avalanche.

Two layers of faceted snow, one developed during the mid January cold spell and the other during the mid December drought, are beginning to reach a tipping point and coming back to life. We might've forgotten about 'em, but the snowpack has an amazing memory and yesterday the PWL began showing its cards. I'm not trusting our current snowpack structure, especially in steep rocky terrain or slopes that avalanched earlier this season. Any slide triggered today has the potential to break deeper and wider than we might expect, delivering a body-bruising slide we might not walk away from.