West Slopes North

Avalanche danger is on Low, and normal caution is advised. If you find more than a couple inches of fresh snow at upper elevations, don't fully rule out the possibility of triggering a small avalanche. Prepare for travel on predominantly firm surfaces, and beware of bare patches and open creeks all the way up into mid-elevations. 

There's a tiny chance that you could trigger a small wind slab avalanche at upper elevations in areas with thicker drifts. Also consider small, yet long-running dry loose avalanches over the crust in non-wind-affected steep terrain. Finally, if the sun pops out, there could be rollerball activity and small wet loose avalanches running on the underlying crust. Any avalanche activity is unlikely and would probably be just a few inches thick.

A stout crust formed everywhere after last week's atmospheric river that resulted in 8" of rain and above-freezing temperatures for a week. On Tuesday, a couple inches of snow fell, starting at about 3000ft and adding slight padding to the crust. From last Friday, up to 6 inches of snow sits at upper elevations over the crust, which has been moderately wind-affected. Weak, faceted snow has been found in the layer of snow from Friday sitting over the crust. 

The 4-6 inches of snow found up higher in the upper elevation band was drifted up to 2 feet deep on Sunday, with various amounts of reactivity. Nevertheless, minimal avalanche activity was reported. Snow has likely stabilized further since then. During Sunday's pleasant weather people were out in many areas of the West North zone, and the big news was finally seeing more of the aftermath of the rain event, with large and very large natural wet avalanches reported. 

Depending on aspect, snow is becoming sparse at lower elevations. Creek hole encounters are unsurprising, even up to 5000ft or so. Skiers and riders who made it to elevations around 5000ft in the last few days found surprisingly pleasant conditions with the thin coating of dry snow over the crust. The stout crust is textured and slightly grippy. It doesn't quite qualify as slide-for-life in most areas. All who dug pits over the weekend were unsuccessful at finding dry snow under the crust, even 4ft below the surface. For now, until another huge weather event comes our way (i.e., another massive warming), avalanche activity is limited to above the crust in the West North zone.