Aspect:  All aspects

Elevation:  All elevations

Bottom Line: Heavy snowfall will increase the likelihood of human triggered avalanches within the new snow. Throughout the week cold temperatures created a hard bed surface and with Tuesday night’s low density snowfall, a series of storm layers in the upper snowpack are forming an upside-down setup. Numerous red flags are likely to be present to warn you of greater instabilities, these include rapid loading, rising temperatures and drifting snow.

Travel Advice:

• Make solid weather observations that inform the avalanche danger
• Look for rapid changes, including heavy snowfall, rising temperatures and wind loading
• Use low consequence test slopes to identify reactive storm snow
• Avoid recently wind-loaded slopes and active loading!
• Keep an eye out for deeper instabilities, including shooting cracks, whumphing or collapsing that indicate a stiffer slab over weaker snow
• Be mindful of any terrain that is above you that has the potential to naturally avalanche
• Stay out of terrain traps where new snow could knock you into a hazard or pile up quickly, such as gullies or tree-wells

Aspect:  All aspects, especially wind-protected basins, aprons below steep terrain (see photos in Avalanche Activity Section below)

Elevation:  Treeline and above.

Bottom Line:  Surface hoar was observed in this zone on Jan 20th. 2-4ft of new snow and wind slabs now lay on top of this dangerous weak layer. Several slopes were observed to avalanche naturally after last week’s storm with wide propagation, while others have not. The new snowfall and increasing temperatures continue to add stress and may tip the scales to this lurking problem.

The likelihood of natural avalanches in the alpine is increasing through the weekend, avoid run-out zones and significant avalanche terrain, especially in poor visibility. There were active layers during the last storm, and many slopes may be on the brink, waiting for a trigger.

Travel Advice: 

• Limit travel in the alpine during heavy snowfall and increasing temperatures
• Think about any steep connected terrain and how a slab could propagate wider than expected
• Avoid similar terrain to the photos of recent avalanches (Avalanche Activity Section below)
• Look for recent natural avalanches.
• Watch for red flags: shooting cracks and collapsing (whumphing).
• Give a wide travel margin to suspect slopes, travel one-at-a-time, eyes on!
• Avoid terrain with traps and complexity.
• Use travel test pits to identify any suspect layers. Buried surface hoar is difficult to find in a snowpit without careful testing and shearing off layers.

Surface Hoar from Flower Mountain on 1/20/2022 & Buried Surface Hoar down 30cm and weak faceted layer down 100cm on 2/3/2022