There has been a steady stream of avalanches happening even though the danger has been dropping. Most have been persistent slab avalanches up to 2 feet deep. The likelihood of triggering one has dropped but remains possible, so choose your terrain carefully.
Ask what will happen if a slope slides while you’re on it. Also watch for wet avalanches on sunny slopes if today heats up more than expected.
These avalanches are more likely on recently wind drifted slopes, at middle and upper elevations, but possible on sheltered slopes as well.
Ian put it best yesterday in our forecaster meeting “there are a lot of wild cards out there”. Buried weak layers of facets and occasional layers of surface hoar are lurking in the snowpack from dry January and from shorter periods of dry weather in February.
Wet slab avalanches are notoriously difficult to predict except that they often happen when we expect wet loose avalanches. The party noted that it felt significantly warmer at that location than it had been throughout their day and the snow was wet through the slab down to the bed surface of the avalanche.
Even though the avalanche danger is MODERATE through most of the forecast area, it’s not open season. Various buried persistent weak layers up to 2 feet deep in most areas have created a lurking persistent slab avalanche problem. Wet snow is a possible problem today on sunny slopes, but several days cycling through warming then refreezing will limit this issue today. High clouds and winds may prevent much heating today.
Because the odds of triggering a persistent slab avalanche have decreased, getting onto steeper slopes isn’t out of the question, but take a few actions to stack the odds in your favor. Before heading out scroll through recent avalanche activity, and while on the snow:
In the Bridger Range the danger is LOW today, and the main thing to watch for are wet loose avalanches on isolated slopes.
