Tetons

Strong west-southwest to northwest winds have formed soft surface slabs up to two feet in depth. These slabs are likely to be easily triggered today in cliff areas and the starting zones of major avalanche paths at the upper elevations and in pockets in steep wind loaded terrain at the mid elevations. Yesterday a local skier died when he triggered an avalanche in the Hourglass Couloir located in a permenantly closed area of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The start zone of this very active and dangerous avalanche path faces east-northeast at an elevation of 10,090 feet. On Sunday another skier was completely buried by a small slide in a terrain trap and quickly recovered by companions on a steep north-northwest aspect on the backside of Superbowl in the Mail cabin Drainage of Teton Pass.