April 28, 2004, Pacific NW Spring Avy

Is it just me, or does it seem that folks have been taking awfuly big risks with the first spate of spring avy conditions? The first hottest day so for durring the year (i.e. last Sun and Mon) always sends up big red bloody flags in my book. Skiing and climbing avy slopes durring these conditions just does not make any sense, especialy when they are so predictable. It just is not that hard to avoid sunny slopes!<br><br>jrh

You're right, it's pretty easy to know when the sun is warming the snow up, but I don't think that means that we should avoid being on the mountains completely. I may be wrong on this, but I figure that a thawing slope becomes skiable sometime before there is a high danger of avy, and that this safe window is long enough to be off the snow before things get too dicey. Of course that depends on how comfortable you are with starting out on firm snow to get a head start.<br><br>Unless you are referring to the recent snow that hasn't had a chance to be subjected to the freeze-thaw cycle, i.e. spring powder?