Choose mellow terrain and watch for signs of instability like whumpfs, shooting cracks or recent avalanches.
Check out the Forecaster Blog "Keeping a Conservative Mindset"
A layer of surface hoar 30 to 55 cm deep buried at the end of January has been most reactive where a slab exists above it. Human triggered avalanches may become more widespread as any lower density snow also starts to settle into a slab.
On Wednesday, west of Creston, explosive avalanche control produced several large slab avalanches (up to size 2.5) in southeast through southwest facing treeline terrain. Also, numerous small (up to size 1.5) loose avalanches were reported on steep slopes facing the sun.
Looking forward, we expect that human triggered avalanches failing on a buried layer of surface hoar will remain likely for the next few days.
30 to 55 cm of low density snow is settling over a layer of surface hoar buried at the end of January. In some parts of the region, alpine and treeline wind has formed deeper, denser deposits of snow in leeward terrain, and potentially scoured some windward ridgetops.
The buried surface hoar has been reported to be as large as 20 mm. On shaded slopes it's sitting on 10 to 20 cm of loose, sugary facets, but on sunny slopes it's sitting on a thin, hard crust.
This layer has been the culprit for many natural and human-triggered avalanches this week, and is not expected to break down and bond anytime soon.
The lower snowpack is strong and bonded.
Thursday Night
Clear. 10 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -14 °C.
Friday
Sunny. 15 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -14 °C.
Saturday
Partly cloudy with up to 3 cm of snow. 10 to 15 km/h SW ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.
Sunday
Sunny. 5 to 15 km/h NW wind. Treeline temperature -17 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
