East Slopes South

You’ll find generally safe avalanche conditions around the East South zone. Increasing wind speeds may redistribute small amounts of snow into thin slabs at the highest elevations. However, challenging travel and firm surfaces will likely be your most significant hazard on Thursday.

After a warm stretch of weather, we’ll be cooling down significantly these next few days.Unfortunately there is no meaningful precipitation associated with this system, so look for  firm and variable travel for the foreseeable future. The main story for Thursday will be increasing wind speeds that should help accelerate the re-freeze process on slopes that held wet snow prior to the cool down. Cold, dry snow may still be found above 6500 ft on shaded N- E aspects. 

While the avalanche danger is LOW that doesn’t mean no danger. During this period of high pressure keep some things in mind:

Wind Slabs & Old Weak Layers: It's been several days since our last loading event, so we suspect wind slabs are becoming harder to trigger with time. However, Increasing wind speeds could redistribute small amounts of snow at the highest elevations into thin slabs. These will be small and isolated but could be consequential in radical terrain, especially paired with our firm surfaces. Look for blowing snow or stiff textured pockets of snow to help you identify wind loaded features.  

We removed the Persistent Slab avalanche problem this past week. Although weak layers still exist in the upper snowpack, they appear dormant and very unlikely to trigger. Snowpack tests show non-propagating results, and we have received no reports of triggered avalanches or whumpfs in over a week. Cold temperatures will help facet out the upper snowpack, but these surface weak layers won’t be an issue until we get more precipitation. 

Challenging travel/ Long, sliding falls: The snowpack has endured a beating this past week. Be ready for crust extending up to 6500 ft or even higher along sun-exposed aspects. The slide-for-life conditions and challenging travel may be one of your most significant hazards during this period. If you head out into steep terrain, consider packing the crampons, ice axe, and importantly, know how to use this gear properly. 

Normal Caution: While avalanche conditions are generally safe, still practice safe travel and carry avalanche rescue gear. Expose only one person/rider at a time in bigger, steeper alpine terrain. 

We still want the observations! You can submit one here.