Climb high enough and you'll find dry snow and a bit of a wind slab problem to manage. Steering clear of bigger terrain until the snowpack sees more decisive cooling is a wise approach.
Two day new snow totals of 15-30 cm should accumulate in the alpine by end of day Friday with south winds still elevated. Expect to find small but reactive wind slabs where new snow has accumulated instead of rain.
Buried weak layers are particularly concerning where recent rain has soaked the upper snowpack, reaching down to old crusts. Predicting these avalanches is especially challenging, and triggering them carries serious consequences.
A widespread avalanche cycle took place in the region through the early week, with numerous wet slab and wet loose avalanches to size 4 (very large) seen in a wide range of terrain. One report from Tuesday featured a size 4 with a crown fracture over 3 km long! Wednesday was much quieter.
Looking ahead, the focus is shifting to wind slabs forming where new snow is accumulating. Cooling temperatures will soon greatly reduce the odds of deep avalanches.
Alpine elevations ought to collect another 5-10 cm of new snow by end of day Friday, adding to an existing (estimated) 10-20 cm already sitting on a crust formed since the rain.
Below this crust and at lower elevations where it has yet to form, the upper 30-60 cm of the snowpack is moist or wet from the same rain.
The mid and lower snowpack consists of variable layers of crusts and faceted snow.
Overall the snowpack remains unusually shallow and continues to melt at lower elevations.
Thursday night
Diminishing wet flurries bringing less than 5 cm of new snow above 1500 m. South alpine wind 15-20 km/h.
Friday
Cloudy with scattered wet flurries bringing less than 5 cm of new snow above 1500 m. Southwest alpine winds 10 to 15 km/h, easing. Treeline temperature 0°C with freezing level around 1700 m.
Saturday
Mainly sunny. Variable alpine winds shifting northeast, 5-10 km/h. Treeline temperature -3°C with freezing level around 1300 m.
Sunday
Mainly sunny. Northeast alpine wind 5-10 km/h. Treeline temperature -5°C with freezing level around 900 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
