The buried persistent weak layer problem involving sugary faceted snow is a very dangerous and notoriously tricky avalanche problem, and it is responsible for most fatalities, injuries, and close calls in the Logan Zone.

Sunday, I triggered subtle collapses and extensive cracking, and several 1'-deep frowns, 20 to 30' wide and 10 to 20' above me on a 25 degree slope on the backside of Beaver Mt., on an east facing mid-elevation slope. A developing and now more cohesive soft slab was failing on loose sugary faceted snow above a stout crust that was on the snow surface in November.

Cracking like this is a red flag indicating unstable snow.

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Fresh drifts formed on weak layers that have developed on the snow surface or preserved under about an inch of new snow. Soft drifts of new snow, up to about a 2 feet deep, could be quite sensitive, and a smaller avalanche overrunning a slope with poor snow structure could create a much larger avalanche. Old, harder wind slabs are fairly widespread at upper elevations near ridge tops and in and around terrain features like gullies, cliff bands, and sub ridges. People could trigger 1 to 3-foot-thick slab avalanches of wind drifted snow on steep slopes, especially where drifts formed on weak, sugary, or faceted snow.