The snow pack is mostly stable, however at the higher elevations isolated pockets of hard wind slab exist. On Thursday a snowboarder descending a very steep couloir on Lava Mountain triggered a shallow hard slab and was carried over a cliff. This person was injured but not buried.
Shallow pockets of hard wind slab up to a foot deep could be human triggered. Once triggered these hard slabs could quickly accelerate and carry a person over cliffs or for significant distances on very steep slopes. The potential for humans to trigger these slabs will increase as the day warms.
( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )Dry conditions with strong temperature gradients will dominate the weather. On Saturday skies will again be clear with temperatures in the teens and 20s in the mountains and in the negative single digits to teens in the valleys. Winds will be west-northwest at 10 to 15 miles per hour.The general avalanche hazard is expected to be LOW. At the upper elevations isolated pockets of shallow, hard slab could be human triggered on very steep slopes.
