Togwotee Pass

Human triggered avalanches are unlikely though you might find and trigger a small wind slab or some loose snow sluffs in very steep spots. As always, travel one at a time, keep an eye on your partners and avoid riding above terrain traps.

The very weak weather disturbance in the area dropped a bit more snow in the high country in the past 24 hours. The cloud cover that gave us a break from another bitter cold night should start to clear by mid-day and may make for better visibility this afternoon. Snow surfaces are a mix of firm temperature crusts and wind board with a cap of a few inches of fresh or wind blown old and new snow on top depending on your aspect and elevation. You’ll find deeper conditions on northerlies where faceting processes have dominated any changes to the upper snowpack over the past couple of weeks. The recent new snow was very touchy a few days ago with thin slabs popping off the top of the older snow that had been faceting and developing surface hoar since January 10th. Keep your avalanche brain engaged as you travel around the mountains and pay attention to snow conditions. Any patterns that you recognize will play into current but mostly future avalanche problems. 

• Look out for cracking in very steep areas where wind slabs may have developed. These may be easier to trigger than you think. 
• Loose snow sluffs could grow big enough to push you around in very steep terrain. If you get into constricted terrain features, these could cause a problem. 

Both of these types of avalanches will be on the smaller side, but could spell trouble in consequential terrain. The outlier in Togwotee that exists most years is weak snow at the ground that’s capable of producing very large avalanches like this one last year. We haven’t seen an avalanche like this since last year but another one like it is not impossible.

Send us your observations and photos! Both are critical for staying informed of conditions, even during dull periods of high pressure.