A complex snowpack and avalanche situation exists at the moment. The latest storm did not bring nearly as much snow as anticipated, and snowlines remained quite high for the bulk of it. However, consistently strong winds yesterday easily transported snow at middle and upper elevations onto leeward aspects and several natural avalanches released on steep North-easterly slopes. Winds shifted in the afternoon and new wind slabs likely formed below Southeast facing ridges. The wind slab problem, especially in alpine terrain under corniced ridges and on the sidewalls of gullies will be easy to spot today. Less obvious are the deeper layers or weak, faceted snow buried near and above treeline. Failure of one of these layers could result in a larger more destructive avalanche. As the storm slab and wind slab problems from the past few days settle, we are left with overall more weight and slab on top of the weaker underlying pack, where a person could conceivably find a thinner weaker spot that could propagate a failure across an entire slope. This type of failure can often be heard as a loud “whumph” and several riders have noted such whuphing in recent days. This problem could last for awhile! It will be important to dig and investigate the snow under your feet before committing to your terrain choice. Evaluate the snow and terrain carefully and identify features of concern.