Purcells

Complex avalanche conditions at the moment. The answer to this type of avalanche problem lies in conservative terrain selection. Visit the blog for thoughts on the recent pattern of accidents in the Purcells.

Fair - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain on Friday

A westerly flow dominates the next 3 days. A number of weather systems are lined up to bring varying amounts of precipitation and wind to the interior regions.Thursday: Light snowfall, Alpine temperatures -7, moderate west winds.Friday: Light snowfall, alpine temperatures -5, winds moderate west and southwestSaturday: Light snowfall in the northern portion of the region. Moderate to locally heavy snowfall for the mid to southern portions of the region. Alpine temperatures -5, freezing level up to 1300m, winds moderate to strong west.

There have been a few different close calls with large avalanches in the north of this region in the last three weeks. Check out the incident database for more details. Recent reports from the last 4 days indicate several natural cornice triggered avalanches running to size 3 on east and southeast aspects at treeline and above. Explosives triggered avalanches have continued to be reported to be running to size 2.5 on northerly aspects in the alpine failing on the October facet/crust layer near the base of the snowpack.

Up to 5 cm of new snow sits on a variety of snow surfaces ranging from stiff wind slab, a soft layer of facetted snow and/or surface hoar. These sit on top of old wind slabs and a couple of persistent weak layers that exist in the upper meter of the relatively thin snowpack. The mid December surface hoar is buried around 30-90 cm. The early December facet/crust combo is buried down 50-150 cm. Both interfaces give variable results with snowpack tests, but professional operators are treating them with caution.A bigger concern, especially in the Northern part of the region is a layer of weak sugary depth hoar crystals at the base of the snowpack that lie above a crust from early October. Several large avalanches in the last two weeks have been attributed to failures at this layer. Wide propagations on relatively gentle terrain have been noted, as well as a tendency for seemingly disconnected slopes to become connected by one large avalanche.