Good skiing can still be found in sheltered treeline and below treeline areas.... but bad skiing can also be found :)
Some alpine windslabs are starting to facet out and provide softer turns.
Enjoy the beautiful blue sky days!
Last weeks winds have created widespread wind effect in the alpine and down into treeline. These are slowly bonding but could be triggered in steep terrain. Watch out for stiff windslabs that are hollow underneath.
In some areas, a layer of surface hoar buried on Jan 3rd exists 20–70 cm below the surface. This layer has a firm slab over it and is at a prime depth for skier triggering. There have been reports of small avalanches on this layer and tests showing sudden planar shears. Dig down and test for sensitivity
Basal facets remain near the ground. The remaining concern centers on the eastern side of the forecast area, particularly in thin to thick snowpack transitions and with large triggers like cornice falls.
No new avalanches were observed or reported on Sunday
A size 1 wind slab was reported on the Mountain Information Network along the Chickadee–Boom traverse on Saturday.
A thin, skiable, temperature crust caps the snowpack in most locations that was created by above-freezing layers early in the week. This will vary with each valley.
Widespread wind effect is found in the alpine and down into treeline elevations.
In several locations through the region, the January 3rd surface hoar layer exists down 30-100 cm and has been reactive in tests and occasionally with human loads.
Basal facets exist in thinner snowpack areas.
The ridge of high pressure continues. Models are showing strong NW winds at 3000m.
Sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop (2650m) wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 600 m.
Mostly sunny. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop (2650m) wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C. Freezing level 100 m.
Sunny. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop (2650m) wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C. Freezing level 0 m
