Crouching Wind Slab, Persistent Dragon

We went up a ridgeline in the Middle Fork to look at new and old snow problems on different aspects and elevations.

• Snowfall increased throughout the day with rates up to >1” per hour.
• Moderate west winds with strong gusts were transporting snow and building ever larger and more sensitive wind slabs on leeward slopes.
• Early in the day it was a little hard to kick off these soft new slabs, but by early afternoon we got easy, consistent results on multiple test slopes and shooting cracks in drifted snow.
• We did not see any natural avalanches but visibility was poor and we stuck to low angle terrain.
• We found a weak layer of sugary snow buried about 4 feet down on every slope we checked. It rests a few inches above the mid-January crust. We got no collapses or shooting cracks from this layer, but we got consistent test results telling us that it can still carry a fracture across the slope.
• More info about weather and snowpack under those tabs.

We traveled a ridgeline with no overhead hazards and avoided slopes steeper than 30 degrees. Despite the increasing danger, our choices were rewarded with excellent powder and no headaches.