Wind slabs may be stubborn to trigger, but even a small avalanche could be dangerous. Assess steep, open terrain features and areas directly lee of ridges before committing.
Lingering wind slabs may be found in open terrain features that promote wind loading, such as cross loaded slopes behind ribs, gullies, and other terrain breaks. Due to reverse loading they may be found in less common terrain.
On Friday a skier-triggered size 1 was reported in the Harvey area near Fernie. The crown was roughly 15 cm deep and involved the recent storm snow.
Total snowpack depths are roughly 80 to 120 cm at treeline, tapering quickly at lower elevations.
Roughly 50 to 70 cm of accumulated snow is settling, and sticking well to the harder crust layers underneath, which make up most of the lower snowpack.
In many areas, especially at treeline and below, there is not enough snow to overcome surface roughness and be above the threshold for avalanches.
Partly cloudy. 10 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Cloudy. Flurries, 1 to 2 cm of snow. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
Partly cloudy. isolated flurries 1 cm of snow. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
