Central Cascades

Avalanches will remain unlikely on Wednesday.  Unlikely doesn't mean impossible.  It is always wise to carry avalanche rescue gear, and employ thoughtful travel techniques like only exposing one rider at a time to steep slopes.

If you were out riding on Tuesday, it probably looked pretty similar to any other day in the last week.  We haven't been observing the wet avalanche activity that we would often expect with warm, sunny weather.  Sunnier slopes have been through many melt freeze cycles and the snow surface can be good corn snow.  Shadier open slopes are still holding older dry snow, and are often faceted.  It might go without saying, but I can't remember our snowpack being this thin at this time of year.  On Tuesday I toured at Broken Top and some of the west and south facing runs are almost unridable.  When I was sledding out there, I noticed that the  groomer had headed out across Dutchman meadow.  I thought I'd take trail 7 for a change of scenery.  The groomer had stopped at the edge of the forest, and trail 7 was a bit sporty.  The shallow snowpack and high pressure have produced some appealing ice/snow/mixed climbing lines throughout the range.