Good skiing has been harder and harder to find. Our field team's pick for these knee testing times is the Boundary lake area.Look out for a weak facet layer in the upper snowpack, on which wind slab, and persistent slab could fail.
Wind slab development will continue with strong SW winds promoting snow transport. Investigate its bonding to the old snow surface before committing to your line as hard wind slabs have a better potential for wider propagation.
A persistent slab sits over 2 different layers depending on elevation and aspect. Below 1950m, the layer is the early Dec rain crust roughly 40-60cm down. Above 1950m, facets buried after the holidays cold spell are the primary layer of concern.
Monday: Flurries. Accumulation: 11 cm. Alpine temperature: High -3 C. Ridge wind west: 20 km/h gusting to 60 km/h. Freezing level: 1700 metres.Tuesday: Sunny with cloudy periods. Precipitation: Nil. Alpine temperature: Low -16 C, High -10 C. Ridge wind northwest: 10-20 km/h. Freezing level at valley bottom.
The upper snowpack is settling with above seasonal temperatures. The top 40 cm is comprised of Wind Slabs particularly in open areas above Tree Line. The mid snowpack is faceted with a persistent weak layer buried 40-70cm down. Basal facets and depth hoar can be found at the base of snowpack.
Sunday Icefields patrol had fair visibility and no new naturals were noted. Our nearest neighbors reporting small wind slab and persistent slab results from their explosives control in the Alpine. Jan 13th explosives control resulted in several wind and persistent slab avalanches up to size 2.5.
