Central Cascades

With no new snow in the immediate forecast and continuing cool temperatures, avalanches will continue to be unlikely on Monday.

Lately, I have heard a lot of comparisons of this January with last January.  In both months we had a significant period of dry, stable weather with very little new snowfall.  Surface conditions are remarkably similar.  Sheltered, shady slopes have dry faceted surface snow, but otherwise snow conditions have been effected by the wind and 2 weeks of melt-freeze.  Monday will be our 9th consecutive day of Low hazard and last January we had 14 consecutive days of Low hazard between January 16 and January 29.  Of course last January we had meters of snow on the ground, and this year we are dodging rocks, logs, and there is even bare ground in our lower elevation riding terrain.  Today I epoxied the metal edge back into my rock skis!  Folks have still been having fun riding in the mountains, and I'm looking forward to an improvement in the weeks to come.