Trevor captured this image of a large natural avalanche in Upper Chalk Creek. It most likely occurred early in the week, during the height of the storm, but mirrors exactly the kind of snow structure and terrain where we could still trigger a deep, scary avalanche today.

Our snowpack is becoming deeper and more resilient over time, and this weeks low density snow and minimal water weight is hardly enough for our pack to take notice. However, there's plenty of slopes throughout the range that are still adjusting to the big storm from last weekend and will come to life with a little provocation. And while it's becoming more the exception than the rule, I suspect the usual suspects like steep, rocky slopes with a shallow, weak snowpack, could react to our additional weight. Sure, we might forget about deeply buried weak layers, but the snowpack has an amazing memory. Don't forget, all we need to do is find a thin portion of the snowpack, like around a rock or bush, collapse the weak layer (whumpf), and now we're staring down the barrel of a dangerous avalanche.

Since we don't have avalanche goggles (patent pending :) and can't see where these landmines exist, I'm moving with caution and intent by slowing down, gathering facts, and reminding myself... even though we're into January, our snowpack is in it's infancy and barely comfortable in its own skin. I also know persistent slabs are tricky, unmanageable avalanche dragons, and instead of trying to outsmart the snowpack, I'm gonna use avalanche avoidance and terrain management as my go-to tools.

Data dump for Windy Peak (10,662') illustrating winds at work along the high peaks.

There's enough low density storm snow available to blow around and team up with ridgetop winds, and that combo easily whips up a fresh round of drifts reactive to our additional weight. This avalanche dragon is straight-forward and I'm looking for and avoiding fat, rounded pillows of snow, especially on the leeward side of ridges, chutes, gully walls, and cut banks. In addition, I'm gonna steer clear of hard, dense drifts, especially if they sound hollow like a drum.