Aspect: All aspects, especially wind loaded terrain.

Elevation: Above Treeline

Bottom Line: Very few visible clues on the surface exist to tell us where this avalanche problem is hiding, as human triggered avalanches are possible and natural avalanches are unlikely. This problem is more susceptible to human triggering in specific features and may not produce spontaneous avalanches, thereby keeping observations minimal. You have a higher likelihood of triggering these buried layers near shallow and exposed terrain areas. Additionally, in areas where fresh, hard wind slab in the alpine may be waiting for a trigger – especially on high, cold, steep aspects where snow was available for transport. These wind slabs could create step down potential into deeper, persistent layers. There is uncertainty on how deep this problem is lurking. Due to the nature of the current persistent problem, snow pit test results and observations can at times be unreliable due to a lack of feedback.

Our snowpack was nuked over the last week: first with heavy snowfall, then strong warming, then more heavy loading. Added up, there was 5″ of new SWE (5 feet of new snow above 3000ft) in this zone. This stressed our previous weak layers and probably caused a natural avalanche cycle. The next storm is likely to produce new instabilities near the surface. Below 3,000ft hard surface conditions exist from warming last week and cooling trend from Thursday,

Travel Advice:

• Think about the consequences of a deep, wide hard slab breaking before you commit to a slope. How can you avoid triggering an avalanche? What is your plan if one is triggered? Always reduce your exposure to these risks as much as possible. Travel one-at-a-time in avalanche terrain, and only group up in safe areas, with a wide safety margin.
• Stick to slopes less steep than 30-degrees while in the alpine. If you choose to venture onto steeper slopes, carefully evaluate them by digging, probing, and testing them.
• Look for shooting cracks, whumphing or collapsing that indicate a stiffer slab over weaker snow. 
  
• Hard wind slabs can break above you, take into consideration extra safety margins.
• Probe and feel for slabs underneath you.