The Blues and Elkhorns have received copious amounts (up to 30") and will continue to do so today. Forecasts are showing upwards of 6-10" in the Elkhorns and 12-18" in the Blues. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand, we are going to have a natural avalanche cycle. Avoid all slopes >30 degrees and stay well away from any slopes above you that are >30 degrees. Avalanches have the potential to run further than you may expect, so don't be fooled thinking you're in a safe zone. Stay home and bake some cookies, or go meadow skipping and just be thankful we are receiving a lot of snow right now.
Significant snowfall in a short time period is a RED Flag. We need to give the mountains a break for a couple of days and let mother nature adjust to her new snow load.
In the Blue mountains, we found a very poor snowpack structure on 2/10 with the 1/12 rain crust about 1.5' from the surface and another layer of facets and buried surface hoar all sitting on a dense rain crust that formed the previous week. We are going to see some large avalanches failing on one of these weak interfaces in the next 24 hours. You don't want to get caught up in this nasty combo, so stay clear of slopes >30 degrees for the near future.
Let's all agree that we are going to have widespread avalanches today, that are very touchy and sensitive to the additional weight of a rider. When the danger goes too High on all aspects and elevations it's a great day to stay home and bake cookies. The likelihood of natural and human-triggered avalanches, running much larger than you might expect is not an if, but when. The definition of High Danger is: "Very dangerous avalanche conditions. Travel in avalanche terrain not recommended."
