New snow, cool temperatures and wind over the past week have created great riding conditions.
Stay aware of current avalanche problems and avoid terrain where they may exist.
Strong west winds over the past week have loaded predominantly east aspect terrain. Avoid lee areas with deep deposits and areas below ridgetop that present large pillows of deep snow.
New and sensitive cornices have formed at ridgetop Remain cautious and give these features a wide berth when travelling above or below them.
A weak crust with sugary facets has formed on steep sun-exposed slopes. This problem is healing but may persist on isolated south-facing slope. Avoid being on or beneath them for now.
On Friday near ten mile pond, the field team reported a large avalanche (size 2) that had failed on a south aspect. We suspect this is older than 48 hours and is likely to have failed on the late February persistent slab avalanche problem interface.
We value your field experiences and photos. Please consider submitting your observation via this link to the mountain information network.
30 to 40 cm of new snow that has fallen over the past week. In wind-exposed areas, it has been redistributed by strong west into lee features, forming new wind slabs.
50 to 80 cm deep, on steep southeast through southwest slopes, a crust with weak, sugary facets on top has been observed. If triggered, this layer could produce large to very large avalanches.
The mid and lower snowpack is well settled, with no layers of concern.
Friday Night
Mostly clear skies. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.
Saturday
Mix of sun and clouds. 70 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
Sunday
Cloudy. 40 to 65 mm of rain at treeline. 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 2 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 10 mm of rain at treeline. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
