Failing cornices have produced large avalanches recently.
Reduce your exposure to overhead hazard during periods of warm temperatures, strong winds, heavy snow or rain.
As temperatures rise, large cornice falls will become a concern. They can potentially trigger persistent slabs on the slopes below. Evidence of recent cornice falls has been reported in the region.
Facets and/or surface hoar buried 40 to 80 cm deep are most prominent at upper elevations where no surface crust has formed. Surface instabilities or large triggers may step down to these deeper layers.
Several cornice triggered avalanches were reported in the past week.
If you do observe an avalanche, please share your observations on the Mountain Information Network.
Variable wind-affected snow covers open terrain at upper elevations. A crust is found up to 1600 m and higher on solar slopes.
Three layers of concern currently exist in the upper-mid snowpack. Surface hoar and a crust that formed in mid-March can be found 30 to 70 cm below the snow surface. Below this, another layer of surface hoar that formed in early March can be found at a depth of 60 to 100 cm. Additionally, a layer of facets, surface hoar, and/or a crust from mid-February is buried 120 to 200 cm deep.
The remainder of the snowpack is well consolidated, and there are no current concerns.
Saturday Night
Cloudy with 3 to 4 mm/cm of rain/snow. 20 to 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 2000 m.
Sunday
Cloudy with 0 to 1 mm/cm of rain/snow. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.
Monday
Mix of sun and cloud. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.
Tuesday
Mix of sun and cloud. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
