While winds have calmed, wind slabs remain in lee alpine and treeline pockets from Monday’s burst of westerly flow. Identify the loaded terrain and steer around it.
Monday had 24 hours of sustained W winds in the 40-60 km/hr range, and this subsequently ruined the soft snow down into treeline, and created widespread loading. Remain suspicious of wind loaded pockets.
Sunshine reported triggering several size 1 hard wind slabs at treeline with explosives. Lake Louise also produced two size 2 avalanches in alpine lee features. They began as thinner wind slabs but then entrained mass by gouging down to ground as they ran.
The previously soft surface snow has been erased with wind in alpine areas, creating windslabs. Some of this wind effect is down into the treeline, but mostly 20-40 cm of soft snow still remains at TL and below. Below ~2300 m, a rain crust exists below the storm snow. The mid- and lower-snowpack is well settled where thicker, and facetting where thin. Tree-line snow depths range from 60-100cm
Slightly warmer than seasonal temperatures continue, with valley bottoms near –2°C and the ridge around –6°C. Cloud cover builds through Wednesday with light flurries. From Thursday into Friday, expect steady light snowfall, with total accumulations of 12–15 cm by Friday night. Winds increase through Wednesday, peaking near midnight with westerly gusts exceeding 60 km/h.
