Welcome winter! It's exciting to see snow falling after a long, hot summer. There is now a foot or so of settled snow on select upper elevation slopes, barely enough to cover the rocks. Caution is required for backcountry travel to avoid hitting shallowly buried rocks, stumps, or down trees.
Avalanches are definitely possible, and it doesn't matter what time of year it is. It doesn't matter what you're doing - going for a hike, hunting, trying to ski or board, or snowshoe; be prepared for avalanches. The main issue will be deposits of wind-drifted snow that could produce slab avalanches, and with such shallow conditions you could sustain serious injuries if you're caught in even a small avalanche.
Looks like a nice weekend with increasingly warm sunny days and clear nights. The next round of stormy weather is on tap for early next week. Stay tuned. We'll be watching each storm and publishing intermittent updates.
Even if you're not planning to get onto the snow, it's never too early to start thinking about avalanches. A few things to consider doing:
- Attend USAW and learn more about avalanches and decision making. (scroll down to the bottom of this page for more info and links)
- Sign up for an avalanche class.
- Take the all-new online avalanche courses the UAC built for Know Before You Go or take other online courses listed on the KBYG website (Develop skills -> Online Learning).
- Get your avalanche rescue gear ready for winter. Put fresh batteries in your transceiver and update the firmware. Inspect your shovel and probe. Get your airbag backpack ready by possibly doing a test deployment and update the firmware if it is an electric version.
Weather and Snow
