Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Rapid Warming
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The two avalanche problems are wind slabs and wet activity.</p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The strong, gusty winds today were not "supposed" to blow very hard but they were strong enough to move some snow around. I could find some areas of wind slabs along the upper elevation ridges and slopes. they are easy to recognize and avoid.</p> <p>As a more general comment, the new snow we all enjoyed so much last weekend was very light and very cold, so people were able to track out many slopes. But with the warmer temperatures and wind, it is consolidating the new snow into a slab where none existed before, so it's a bit of a tricky situation. There have been human triggered avalanches that took out previous tracks, such as the one on Superior yesterday. Likewise, the wind slabs will create potentially dangerous conditions on top of places with previous tracks.</p> <p>This time of year we always have to worry about wet avalanche activity. Today's clouds and wind kept things cool enough to keep wet activity to a minimum, but all it takes is a few hours of this strong, spring sun to get it going again. Surprisingly, the south facing slopes at upper elevations are still dry right under the surface sun skin. So there is a lot of potential for wet avalanches whenever it warms up again.</p>
The sun and wind are slowly taking their toll. But even so, the riding conditions are still surprisingly good. Even the damp south facing slopes were creamy in the afternoon. The shady slopes still have some soft, settled, creamy, dry snow. But the winds lately have created localized areas of wind damage at upper elevations.