Start and finish early to enjoy good travel and skiing conditions!
Clouds may help keep things cool, but higher freezing levels and any solar radiation will increase the likelihood of avalanches as the day progresses.
Human triggering of the persistent weak layer remains a concern in shallow snowpack areas and eastern regions.
Moderate to strong SW-NW winds in the last several days combined with recent snow built wind slabs in lee high alpine features and contributed to fresh cornice development. Watch for these wind slabs in steep loaded terrain at higher elevations.
A midpack slab up to 80 cm thick sits on the weak, facetted lower snowpack. On all but high north aspects, recent sun crusts and the March 27 rain crust cap this slab, providing some security. Use caution in higher, thin snowpack areas or where these crusts are weak or breaking down with heating.
With higher freezing levels on Tuesday and less of freeze overnight, surface crusts may start to break down earlier. This could result in an increased hazard and wet loose avalanches later in the day. Monitor temperatures and crusts carefully and plan to be out of steep terrain early in the day.
Some small wet loose avalanches out of steep solar terrain on Monday afternoon.
On Saturday, skiers in the Ferris Glacier area remote-triggered a wind slab 60 cm deep on NE alpine terrain at ~2750 m.
On Friday, skiers remotely triggered a wind slab at ~2850 m on St. Nicholas size 2.5 that stepped down to deeper layers in a rocky area, and occurred on steep, unsupported ENE facing terrain.
Crusts on solar aspects to ridgetop, with crusts on all aspects at treeline and below. 20-40 cm of dry snow on north-facing alpine slopes with wind slabs in alpine lee areas.
In thinner snowpack areas a 30-70 cm stiff midpack sits over weak facets and depth hoar. On high north slopes, this weakness remains a concern. Elsewhere, crusts in the upper snowpack overlay this midpack slab. If these crusts are thick, and remain frozen, they provide some strength over the weakness.
Mostly clear Monday night. Freezing levels stay fairly high, around 2000 m. Treeline temperatures down to -5°C with moderate W winds in the alpine.
Becoming a mix of sun and cloud on Tuesday morning with freezing levels going back up to ~2400 m. Light flurries begin later in the afternoon. Moderate W winds in the alpine through the day. Treeline temperatures up to +2°C.
