The snowpack remains tricky. Weak, sugary facets that formed during the January drought are now buried under several feet of stronger, denser snow. That’s the classic strong-snow-over-weak-snow setup we worry about.

The challenge is that the usual red flags—collapsing or cracking—may not show themselves. In fact, you might even see a few sets of tracks on a slope before someone finally hits the wrong spot. The most likely trigger points are thinner parts of the slab, often around rocks, bushes, or other shallow areas. High marking is an easy way to hit one of those spots and could produce a large destructive avalanche.

This problem isn’t everywhere, but when you find it, it’s unpredictable and hard to manage. The safest approach is simple—avoid it. For now, steep, rocky slopes with shallow snow on the north half of the compass should continue to be off the list.

Photo: Showing the hard slab that was triggered last weekend on Duchesne Ridge.

With continued wind, expect shallow slabs of wind-drifted snow to form on leeward slopes and around terrain features like gullies, rock outcrops, sub-ridges, and mid-slope rollovers. These drifts often look like smooth, rounded pillows and may feel hollow under your sled, board, or skis. You can sometimes get well out onto them before they suddenly crack and release.

Remember that any avalanche triggered in the new wind-drifted snow has the potential to step down into buried weak layers in the snowpack, creating a much larger avalanche than expected.