It was another spring-like day in the backcountry yesterday with bluebird skies and an opportunity for replenishing vitamin D stores. Today, cloud cover has moved back in but there could be some breaks here and there. We have 1-2″ of snow on tap with moderate Easterly winds. This is not enough snow to be a concern on its own but the reactive wind slabs from yesterday, as well as a bump in wind today, will keep wind slab avalanches on the docket. Loose snow sluffs and cornices will also remain on the docket.
Wind slabs:
Wind slabs that we are seeing and hearing about in the Turnagain Pass zone have been shallow 6-10″, scattered around ridgelines, and not packing too much punch. However, in the Girdwood Valley and North where more snow fell, slabs are reported to be thicker.
If you are headed out today, watch for:
1) Stiff snow on the surface of the snowpack
2) Winds actively loading slopes (there may be just enough wind in the forecast to form fresh slabs at upper elevations)
3) Cracking in the snow around you
4) Surface texture and hints that slopes are wind loaded
Cornices!: Give these a wide berth, wider than you think.
Sluffs: Watch your sluff. These are entraining several inches of surface snow and could get quite large in large terrain.
Photo below: Wind slab avalanche triggered by a skier yesterday. This avalanche was between the Magnum and Cornbiscuit ridgelines in an area called Superbowl. Skier was not caught and the slab itself was quite small, 6-10″ thick, yet did propagate down the ridge and entrain a bit of sluff as it ran.
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