Togwotee Pass

Early season conditions exist with limited access to rideable snow. You may be able to find and trigger small, wind slab avalanches in steep terrain but the greatest hazard continues to be the many obstacles just beneath the snow's surface. North-facing slopes below 9,000' contain even less snow with bare ground on south facing and low elevation slopes.

Join the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center Foundation and Skinny Skis at the Center for the Arts tonight, Thursday, December 4th for the 26th Annual Avalanche Awareness Night! Go here for more details. See you there!

Variable snow surfaces exist on our 20-30 inch Teton snowpack across the upper elevation. The layer to watch will be weak snow formed in November in the middle of the snowpack on upper elevation shady, more northerly aspects (W-N-E). Togwotee Pass has its characteristic weak snow developing in the current 10-20 inch deep snowpack. Forecasters made a video yesterday of the situation there. Lower down and on sunny slopes, the incoming snow will be falling on mostly bare ground. These shady, higher elevation slopes will be the most attractive spots to recreate in coming days but they will also hold the greatest potential for avalanches to occur. Early snowfall is known to create problems in the snowpack but avalanches need continuous bed surfaces and connected slopes before they really become a problem. The old snow on the shady slopes is where you may find those conditions.

While today's forecast is probably not telling you anything that you don't already know, the upcoming weekend could make the forecast more relevant.  With any luck, this storm will produce as much snowfall as models suggest. Expect, upwards of two feet of snow and 1.5" of water by Saturday afternoon and three feet or more by Wednesday at 10,000' in the Tetons. Even with that amount of snow, things will look more like late October than the first week of December. Time will tell what this and subsequent storms will bring but for now the best bet may be to maintain a cautious mindset and keep your tips up your speed down.