A Persistent Weak Layer of faceted snow near the ground remains a concern. Chances are becoming less for triggering an avalanche that breaks into this weak snow. However, if you happen to be in the wrong spot, you could trigger something. While prowling around in Six Mile Canyon on Wednesday, my partner and I experienced a very large collapse where the entire snowpack dropped an inch or two underneath us. This was on a northwest facing slope at around 10,000' in elevation. The total depth was around 4' of snow. Had the slope been steeper, we would have triggered an avalanche.

The most likely places to trigger an avalanche are on steep slopes that are above about 9500' that face west, north or east and especially in places where the snowpack is shallow. Bottom Line: There are booby traps all over. This is a very unusual snowpack for this time of the season and I continue to treat it with the utmost caution.