Not much has changed on this front and last weeks snow and wind didn't do too much to tip the balance. As a matter of fact, recent snowpit stability tests combined with the lack of avalanche activity suggests the pack feels pretty comfortable in its own skin... and that's good news. Remember- "persistent weak layers" in the snowpack are a headache because they remain problem children for long periods of time. And all we need to do is find one weakness, maybe around a bush or rock that we can't see buried underneath the snow, collapse the pack, and now we're getting worked by a large piece of moving of snow. The usual suspect terrain comes to mind- steep, rocky slopes with a shallow snowpack. So the way I'm avoiding this scenario is by simply avoiding the terrain where this setup exists.... mid and upper elevation, north facing slopes that harbor weak, early season snow near the ground.

Tyler found weak snow near Iron Mountain. Not a problem now, but could be an issue if we load this structure with a good shot of snow and water weight.

Steep, rocky, with a thin snowpack... complex terrain like in the image above is the kind of place where you could trigger a slide that breaks to weak snow near the ground.