Preserved dry snow can be found in the high alpine. Elsewhere, travel conditions are rugged.
Practice good travel habits like avoiding terrain traps and slopes with cornices overhead.
A layer of surface hoar is buried around 1 m deep. Large loads like cornice falls may be able to trigger this layer, especially in areas that lack a robust surface crust.
Recent avalanche activity has been a mixed bag including:
A number of cornice falls triggered large wind slabs, size 2 to 2.5, in extreme terrain in the high alpine
Loose wet avalanches up to size 2 out of steep solar aspects at alpine and treeline elevations
A couple of natural persistent slabs in the West Purcells on Thursday, a size 2, likely tree bomb-triggered in forested terrain, and a size 3.5 on glacial ice
A widespread melt-freeze crust extends up to 2200 m in the Esplanades in the north end of the region and 2500 m in the Battle to the south. This crust may soften on steep south-facing slopes during the day. On all but southerly aspects in the high alpine, snow is dry and wind affected. Cornices loom large.
A surface hoar layer from in early January is buried around 1 m deep. The mid-December crust is now buried around 1.5 m deep, and is present up to 2300 m. Triggering these layers is unlikely under current conditions, and would require a large load like a cornice fall.
Saturday Night
Clear skies. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.
Sunday
Sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 1200 m.
Monday
Sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.
Tuesday
Mostly sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
