Good riding conditions exist in wind sheltered terrain with soft snow to be found.
Keep the buried weak layers on the radar, and head to simple terrain if you observe signs of instability.
Facets and/or surface hoar buried 50 to 80 cm deep are most prominent on north-facing slopes. Avoid areas with a thin or variable (thin to thick) snowpack.
This may be hard to trigger but could produce large avalanches.
There has been no new avalanche activity reported in the last few days. Check out this MIN from Ashman, and this one from the Blunt for an overview of conditions.
If you head into the backcountry, please consider posting a MIN report with photos and/or observations from your day.
10 to 30 cm of recent new snow has buried a widespread layer of surface hoar, which overlies crust on solar aspects and at low elevations.
A layer of facets, surface hoar and/or a crust buried in mid February is 30 to 50 cm below the snow surface and has been reactive in snowpack tests.
Deeper in the snowpack, a weak layer of facets and a crust from early December can be found. This layer appears to be dormant but is still worth keeping in mind in thin snowpack areas in the alpine.
Monday Night
Partly cloudy. 25 to 35 km/h northwest wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Tuesday
Cloudy with flurries. 30 to 40 km/h southwest wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Tuesday
Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 30 to 40 km/h southerly wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing levels reach 1200 m.
Wednesday
Mostly clear skies. 50 to 60 km/h southwest winds ease over the day. Treeline temperature -0 °C. Freezing levels reach 1300 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
