West Slopes Central

Low danger doesn’t mean no danger. Keep an eye out for changing conditions as you travel and red flag signs of instability such as recent avalanches. If you decide to head into high elevation or extreme terrain, you could still find some lingering pockets of unstable snow on wind-loaded features. 

Wednesday will mark day 4 since our last major loading event in the West Central zone. With primarily calm winds since the end of the storm and a decently strong lower snowpack, we have some confidence that you should find generally safe avalanche conditions out in the mountains. That said, not everything is all roses and lollipops. There is always the possibility of running into lingering storm issues if you are in extreme terrain or at the highest elevations where the winds often blow the hardest during storms. 

Look for rippled surfaces or areas that look “fat” on features where the wind likes to drift the snow into deeper piles. Examples include confined chutes and gullies, the base of cliffs, or convex slopes. If the winds kick up a bit more than expected and you see snow actively being transported, you could even encounter a few freshly built slabs. 

If the sun is strong, you might also see some snow shedding from trees and rocks. If so, they could entrain a little snow on steeper slopes and fan out into some small loose-style avalanches. We don’t anticipate any of these to grow to a size of consequence, but you may want to keep them on your radar all the same.

The other bit of uncertainty surrounds the possibility of some buried weak snow 1-2 feet below the surface. This 12/8 layer has been problematic in other zones around the region but has not yet reared its ugly head in the West Central as far as we know. We do not currently have any reports of avalanches on this layer or have confirmed its existence within the zone, but observations have been limited. Consider taking a minute to dig in the snow and do a few tests before you hop onto a consequential slope. If you are getting sudden or planar breaks, it may be best to choose different terrain to play in.