Avoid lee areas where wind slabs are deeper and more dangerous.
Wind slabs are easily triggered during their formation.
Strong wind is expected to form new wind slabs as it strips away soft snow. Avoid wind-loaded features, especially near ridge crests and rollovers.
On Thursday, there was a skier-triggered wind slab near Zoa peak (see photos). It was triggered on a convexity and spread far across the slope. The skier was uninjured. Read the full report here.
On Wednesday, there was a report of a large storm slab (size 2) that released naturally from below a rock feature near the Coquihalla. It occurred on a south aspect at treeline.
Strong to extreme wind is expected to redistribute soft snow in exposed areas. In sheltered terrain, there is around 30 to 60 cm of snow from earlier in the week.
The mid-December crust is 100 to 250 cm deep. This crust is 30 cm thick and well-bonded to the snow above.
In general, the snowpack is well settled and right-side up.
Friday Night
Partly cloudy. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.
Saturday
Mix of sun and clouds. Up to 10 cm of snow. 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1400 m.
Sunday
Cloudy. 10 to 20 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 30 to 65 mm of precipitation as snow in the alpine and rain at treeline. 70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 2000 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
