Northern New Mexico

It remains possible to trigger a persistent slab avalanche on depth hoar or faceted crusts in steep terrain at all elevations. Recent snow and strong winds have built stiffer, more cohesive slabs on top of these weak layers. The most dangerous slopes face north and some upper elevation east aspects.  These persistent weak layers are located 1 to 3 feet below the surface. Take the time to dig a pit and assess this strong over weak snowpack structure and what the potential consequences would be if you were to trigger an avalanche.  Sticking to lower angeled, wind-sheltered terrain will provide better and safer riding options.

Today marks the beginning of our first big spring warm-up, but some mid-level clouds and a moderate western breeze will keep some of the warming at bay.  Temperatures will still push into the 40s today at 11,000 ft with periods of intense sunshine, so pack your skin wax if you're headed out there and be cautious of wet snow near the surface that's seeing a lot of direct sunlight.  You may see some roller balls and pinwheels develop, especially later in the day on solar aspects, so pay attention to these trends as they are good signals that you could kick off a small wet loose avalanche in steeper terrain nearby.  The primary concern for us remains the potential for persistent slab avalanches on many of the large, steep slopes that are enticing to ski or ride right now in our range.

We've had an incredibly bad setup this year for stability.  Unlike our friends to the north, two big storms hit us in October and early November bringing 5 feet of snow. We then went through close to 3 months of drought with limited snow, and over this time on mainly northerly aspects above 10,500' the snow formed well-developed facets and depth hoar.  It wasn't until the end of January that we started to see storms that helped build slabs over these weak layers.  Although there hasn't been all that much snow, these storms combined with periods of strong wind helped build slabs over these very weak and widespread persistent weak layers over the last two months.  We never saw a large enough storm this winter to help "flush" facets or depth hoar but instead saw smaller avalanche cycles with each "significant" storm and continued to have prolonged periods of instability.  The snowpack at this point in the season continues to be untrustworthy, and with our limited snow coverage, anywhere that looks enticing enough to ski or ride will push you into this poor snowpack structure.

It's been a low snow year with the bulk of moisture coming before November 8th. The prolonged dry period from November through January produced widespread depth hoar on northerly aspects. Smaller storms arrived starting at the end of January along with strong winds and built cohesive slabs on top of widespread weak layers.    (3/21/2025) Photo: Taos Avalanche Center

In travels over the last few days, we continue to get cracking and collapsing and easy to moderate results in long column stability tests. Whether it's faceted crusts from the early and late February warm-ups or depth hoar, slabs have continued to build with the snow over March combined with strong winds that have only exacerbated this strong over weak poor snowpack structure.

Below treeline, the snowpack is thin (<1.25 m on most slopes). Most of the decent coverage is above 10,500' on northerly aspects. The vast majority of this snow came before November 8th, and has since turned into fragile 3 to 10 mm depth hoar.  As a result we've seen natural avalanche cycles and incredibly widespread cracking and collapsing in these areas with each significant loading event.  At the end of last week, we continued to get cracking and collapsing in North-facing below treeline terrain.  Although we are probably bordering on unlikely to trigger avalanches at theses elevations as we push further away from the last significant storm, steep northerly slopes that are exposed to recent strong winds definitely give us pause. The depth hoar and other weak layers remain close to the surface and you will certainly be impacting them in your travels at lower elevations today.

At upper elevations near and above treeline, recent strong to extreme winds have built cohesive slabs on top of weak layers.  The most dangerous slopes are on north and east aspects and can also be found on cross-loaded near treeline west aspects.  You'll find comfort on harder slabs as they'll be supportable and feel good underfoot, as compared to the weak snowpack below treeline, but the real problem lurks deeper down in the snowpack.  Whether it's faceted crusts or depth hoar, the weak layers should be obvious to identify in snowpits.  When dealing with hard slabs, it may only take hitting the margins of the slab where weak layers are easier to impact.  Avalanches at these elevations will be larger and would be big enough to injure or bury you. 

You may still be able to find some "recycled" powder today on wind-sheltered, North-facing terrain, but it's a good idea to go after it early as today marks the beginning of a significant warm-up.  Temperatures are expected to climb well into the 50s in the mountains over the next few days, and this combined with superficial refreezes will bring about a great meltdown and a big uptick in wet snow avalanche concerns.  More on that tomorrow, but for now enjoy what's out there and stay attentive to the snowpack as it remains in mid-winter form in many of the places where you can currently ski or ride.