Even with compact snow surfaces and cool temperatures, don't underestimate the power of the sun. Minimize exposure to slopes with cornices overhead when solar radiation is strong. Wind slabs are stubborn to trigger but a large load like a cornice fall might do it.
Old wind slabs in isolated terrain features have likely become stubborn to trigger. Large loads like cornice falls could still trigger avalanches on wind loaded slopes below.
Cornices may weaken with prolonged exposure to direct sun. Minimize exposure to overhead hazard when solar radiation is strong. A few recent cornice falls have triggered avalanches on the slopes below.
Thursday night: Clear, light wind, alpine low -11.
Friday: Sunny, light wind, alpine high -9.
Saturday: Sunny with increasing cloud in the afternoon, light wind, alpine high -9.
Sunday: Flurries, up to 5 cm, light wind, alpine high -10.
No new reports in the last day. Earlier in the week, reports from the northern part of the region included a natural wind slab avalanche size 1.5 at treeline and a few cornice falls up to size 2. Some of the cornice falls triggered wind slab avalanches up to size 2 in the slopes below. None of these large loads triggered deep persistent layers.
In the south of the region, fluctuating freezing levels during the last storm have resulted in a crust to ridgecrest. At upper elevations, 5-10 cm of dry snow has been blown around by the wind, exposing the crust in some areas and building wind slabs on top of it in others. The lower snowpack is well settled.
In the north, upper elevations are extensively wind affected. A widespread surface crust exists below 1600 m. Remnants of a melt-freeze crust from early December may be found around 200 cm deep in the snowpack. It has been most prevalent northwest of Pemberton where large avalanches failed on this interface earlier this month. Recent reports and snow profiles suggest that this layer is decomposing and/or bonding to surrounding snow and trending dormant... for now at least.
