Turnagain Pass and Girdwood

Although unlikely, look out for small wind slab avalanches in steep alpine terrain. Keep in mind that low avalanche danger does not mean no danger. Continue to execute safe traveling in avalanche terrain exposing one person on steep slopes. Steer clear of glide cracks whenever possible because they can still release as large avalanches.

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Yesterday was the first day that the avalanche danger was dropped to low at all elevations. That being said, low danger does not mean no danger in the backcountry. The most likely place to trigger an avalanche would be on steep wind loaded slopes where small wind slabs around 1’ deep are sitting over weak faceted snow. Even on low danger days it is important to execute safe travel practices such as exposing one person on the slope you intend to ride and utilizing safe spots on riskier slopes. 

Justifying low avalanche danger has to do with several factors. We have not seen or heard of human triggered avalanches in over 10 days, and there has not been significant snow or wind loading events in well over a week. The main hazard is challenging surface conditions. Icy conditions exist at lower elevations and wind hardened snow is widespread at upper elevations.  

Glide Avalanches: Glide cracks will still likely release as large glide avalanches at some point this winter. Although the glide avalanche activity has slowed down it is still a good idea to limit time spent under these cracks.

With not much happening in the backcountry I thought this could be a good time to expand on wind slab formation to those interested (reference to first photo in our media gallery). Blowing snow tends to form wind slabs below ridgelines where ridgetop winds transfer snow from one slope exposed to the wind (windward) to the slopes protected from the wind (leeward). Snow can also blow from the top of convex terrain features and deposit wind slabs towards the bottom of them. These two processes are called top loading. Winds can also blow through valleys depositing snow across slopes in low points such as gullies (crossloading). This is why we may say "Look out for wind slabs below ridgeline, convex rollovers and loaded gullies" and can give you a better picture of where wind slabs exist when you are in the backcountry. 

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