Bridger Range

Thick crusts this morning, softening under sunny skies should make for a beautiful day in the mountains. Large avalanches are unlikely, but not completely out of the question. Be on alert if you start to break through the crusts and I’d still dig down to look for lingering instabilities in the dry snow on the steepest, shadiest, highest elevation slopes.

Many hours of below freezing temperatures overnight along with clear skies mean that there will be thick ice crusts on the snow surface this morning. Temperatures rising above freezing today, in combination with the strong late March sun, will soften the surface snow as the day goes on, but I expect the thick crust to stay intact. Small Wet Loose avalanches above the crust are the avalanche concern you’re most likely to encounter and these will only be a hazard in terrain where getting knocked off your feet or carried a few feet downhill has big consequences. 

There will still be wet snow deeper in the snowpack on most slopes, but as long as the crust remains supportable (which I think it will today) that deeper wet snow won’t pose a hazard. If you do find yourself breaking through last night’s crust, be on alert because you could trigger larger, more dangerous, gouging Wet Loose slides. 

The highest elevation, shadiest, steep slopes still harbor dry snow with persistent weak layers. Persistent Slab avalanches on these weak layers have become unlikely, but not entirely out of the question. The last slides on these weak layers were about a week ago (avalanche log). If I was planning to ride one of these slopes today I’d still dig down to look for lingering instabilities as a final check before committing. 

Today looks like a great opportunity to enjoy safe, fun, riding on corn snow. Enjoy it while you can, because it looks like there will only be a light refreeze tonight, so I expect both avalanche and riding conditions to be worse tomorrow. 

With large avalanches unlikely, the avalanche danger is LOW throughout the forecast area today.