Westerly ridge topwinds that increased to 30 to 40 miles per hour around midnight are transporting available snow onto lee slopes and creating sensitive wind slabs. Expected snowfall today and continued westerly winds will increase the size and sensitivity of slabs through the day at upper and mid elevations. At low elevations the snowpack is mostly stable. Two separate avalanche fatalities occurred Sunday. A backcountry skier who accessed the Clause Peak area by skis and snowmobile from the Cliff Creek Trailhead in Hoback Canyon is believed to have triggered an eight inch deep soft slab on a steep slope at an elevation of about 9,200 feet and was carried into a tree and did not survive. The second fatality was a skier on Survey Peak in Grand Teton National Park who also was carried into a tree but by a larger slide believed to have originated in a shallower area of faceted snow over a rock band.
Strong northwesterly winds that began around midnight are creating soft slabs up to three feet in depth from ample available snow on lee slopes at mid and upper elevations. Forecasted significant new snow and continuing winds will increase the ease of triggering avalanches through the day. The slabs rest on excellent sliding surfaces of wind pack, sun crusts and faceted snow.
