West Slopes South

Though we expect generally safe avalanche conditions, increasing wind speeds could drift a bit of soft surface snow into a small and isolated wind slab at the middle and upper elevations. If you see blowing snow, give a wide berth to steep lee slopes with fresh drifts deeper than a few inches, and be mindful of the consequences being knocked off your feet by a small slide above cliffs, rocks, or trees. Firm surfaces exist on slopes that face the sun, so consider carrying crampons to minimize the risk of a sliding fall.

Saturday brings increasing wind speeds and cloudy skies. So long as skies stay clear for a bit on Friday night, the snow surface should re-freeze and put to bed any wet loose potential. This should shut down the corn harvest for the day, so expect firm surfaces in the morning to stay firm. Though unlikely, Crystal could be an outlier as it often manifests the sun when the rest of the West Slopes are shrouded in clouds, especially with southwest flow. If you find wet snow on the surface, keep a stray wet loose on your radar. It would be small and rare, but don't let it knock you off your feet in hazardous terrain. 

Slopes receiving the brunt of the wind are likely either crusted and/or scoured, limiting the ability to form significant slabs. Still, winds do funny things in the mountains and an isolated slab could form where local winds erode soft snow and create fresh drifts. Any slab that does form should be small. If you see blowing snow, avoid steep wind-loaded slopes in consequential terrain where even a 1" wind slab could prove problematic if it knocked you off your feet, and avoid any steep wind-loaded slope in the unlikely event that you find more than 6" of drifted snow. High elevations on the volcanoes are likely holding deeper dry snow and may see even higher wind speeds, so pay extra attention there. Older wind slabs formed on Tuesday have had three days to heal under warming temperatures, rendering triggering unlikely. Perhaps you could find one in a shaded gully entrance or below a steep rocky ridge line above 5000', but it would be an outlier. 

Friday's Conditions and the Current Snowpack:

Given the limited information from the West South on Friday, along with snowpack and weather data, we surmise that minimal wet loose activity of consequence occurred—consistent with observations from surrounding zones in our forecast area. Another solid overnight re-freeze left firm surfaces in the morning at all elevations on slopes that receive direct sunlight (E-S-W). Multiple days of freeze-thaw conditions have made for stout surface crusts that are softening in the daytime sun and offering a harvest of what we might even call corn. On shaded and sheltered slopes, you'll find between 1-9 inches of soft snow over a stout crust, depending on elevation and location in the zone. Isolated wind-loaded pockets could be deeper.