Failing cornices have produced large avalanches recently.
Reduce your exposure to overhead hazard during periods of warm temperatures, strong winds, heavy snow or rain.
As temperatures rise, large cornice falls are becoming a concern. They can potentially trigger persistent slab avalanches on the slopes below. Carefully manage your exposure to overhead hazards, during the warmest part of the day.
Several weak layers persist in the snowpack. These layers are most likely to be reactive at upper elevations where no surface crust has formed. Surface instabilities or large triggers may step-down to these deeper layers.
On Saturday, explosives avalanche control triggered numerous wet loose avalanches on east facing slopes. These avalanches were generally large (up to size 2.5)
On Friday, a failing cornice triggered a size 3 avalanche on an eastern slope in the alpine. This avalanche is believed to have occurred on the March 5th surface hoar layer.
Where a thick, supportive surface crust is found, we expect that triggering avalanches on buried weak layers is unlikely.
Variable wind affected snow covers open terrain at upper elevations. A crust is found up to 1800 m and higher on solar slopes.
Three layers of concern currently exist in the upper-mid snowpack. Surface hoar and a crust that formed in mid-March can be found 35 to 80 cm below the snow surface. Below this, another layer of surface hoar that formed in early March can be found at a depth of 60 to 100 cm. Additionally, a layer of facets, surface hoar, and/or a crust from mid-February is buried 120 to 200 cm deep.
The remainder of the snowpack is well consolidated, and there are no current concerns.
Monday Night
Cloudy with up to 3 cm of snow. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Tuesday
Partly cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1°C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Wednesday
Mix of sun and clouds with flurries. 20 to 40 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1°C. Freezing level 1400 m.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 30 to 60 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
