Enjoy the warming temperatures but keep the wind slabs in mind! Good riding conditions exist in sheltered areas on facetted snow surfaces.
Wind slabs exist in the alpine and some tree line locations. They are sitting on a variety of surfaces including old wind effect, surface hoar, sun crusts and facets.
The next few days will become progressively warmer with increasing winds and intermittent flurries by the end of the weekend. Friday and Saturday will be mainly sunny and dry, temperature highs ranging from -13 to -6, light alpine winds switching from northerly to south westerly. Expect moderate SW winds and snow accumulations up to 5cm on Sunday.
Wind effect, wind slabs and scoured surfaces exist in many alpine and tree-line elevations. Sheltered areas have a soft, facetted surface. The Jan 30th surface hoar/sun crust layer is variable in distribution and reactivity, but is generally 40-75 cm down and producing hard to no results in snowpack tests.
A remote cornice failure triggered a size 3 avalanche in Kootenay National Park on Wednesday. On Thursday, the local ski areas reported a few small wind slab avalanches up to size 1 with explosives control.
