West Slopes South

Temperatures won’t cool as much overnight, followed by warmer conditions on Saturday. Continued warming will keep the possibility of wet avalanche activity, especially late in the day. As surfaces soften, you might be able to trigger avalanches on steep slopes, particularly on sun-exposed aspects, but shaded slopes may also become reactive. In rocky and complex terrain, snow may still shed naturally.

Warm, unstable snow will first show on sunny slopes as roller balls, snow shedding from rocks and cliffs, or small natural or human-triggered avalanches. As the day warms, keep an eye out for these early signs. You can also use small convex test slopes to test how easy it is to initiate a wet avalanche. Once you start to notice these indicators, shift to more supportable snow or to lower-angle slopes altogether.

It's been a few days since the most recent wind loading event, but that doesn't necessarily mean unstable slabs are gone entirely. More likely, they are trending harder to find and trigger. Unstable slabs are most likely to persist at higher elevations (such as volcanoes) on shady slopes harboring cold snow. Keep these slabs in mind as you climb in elevation. Use cornices, wind lips, and textured snow surfaces to point you in the direction of wind-loaded slopes. If the snow underfoot feels hollow and extra dense on top, you might be standing on a hard wind slab.

Look for these slabs near ridgelines, under cliff bands, or on steep rollovers. These will be hard to test for, so you're better off sticking to the softer snow on less wind-affected slopes.