Conservative terrain travel is recommended, as riders could trigger buried weak layers. Watch your overhead exposure during the heat of the day.
A weak layer of facets and/or surface hoar is buried around 30 to 70 cm deep. The layer is most prominent on alpine terrain features sheltered from the wind.
Wet loose avalanches could occur on steep sun exposed slopes. Cornices are also large and may weaken with daytime warming.
We haven't received recent reports of avalanche activity, but many reports of whumpfing and cautious terrain travel. Many natural and rider-triggered avalanches released last Thursday on the weak layers described in the Snowpack Summary (see photos below). These weak layers may take some time to strengthen, meaning they may remain active to human traffic for the foreseeable future.
Please consider sharing your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
Recent strong wind has produced wind affected snow in the alpine. The snow surface on sun-exposed slopes will wet during the day and freeze into a hard melt-freeze crust overnight.
Weak layers of surface hoar crystals and/or faceted grains may be found around 30 to 70 cm deep. These layers may be associated with a hard melt-freeze crust above or below. These layers were the culprit of many large avalanches last week and remain unstable in snowpack tests.
Cornices are large and looming at this time of year.
Tuesday Night
Clear skies. 10 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Wednesday
Clear skies. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level rising to 900 m.
Thursday
Clear skies. 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level rising to 1300 m.
Friday
Clear skies. 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level rising to 1600 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
