Start on small slopes to test how well the recent snow has bonded.
If you find signs of instability, it may not be time to step out to steeper or more complex terrain.
Recent snowfall has formed reactive slabs. Since this snow fell with strong wind, avalanches will be more likely on leeward slopes and in cross-loaded features.
On Saturday, southwest of Valemount, a few large (up to size 3) explosive triggered slab avalanches were reported.
Looking forward to Monday, we expect that human triggered avalanches will remain possible.
If you are heading into the backcountry, please share any observations with the Mountain Information Network.
Some areas could see up to 10 cm of new snow by the end of the day Monday, with strong westerly wind. Expect to find small pockets of dense, reactive wind slabs on leeward slopes, possibly further downslope than normal. Below that, 50 to 80 cm of settling snow overlies previously wind-affected surfaces in open terrain and / or a solid melt-freeze crust formed in early February.
A layer of surface hoar, facets, and/or crust from late January is buried around 140 cm. Triggering this layer is unlikely at this time.
The remainder of the snowpack is consolidated with no layers of concern.
Sunday Night
Partly cloudy. 1 to 4 cm of snow. 40-70 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 2 to 5 cm of snow. 40-70 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Tuesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 2 to 5 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy. 3 to 10 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
