South Rockies

Triggering large storm slabs is most likely in wind affected terrain.

Persistent slabs remain possible to human trigger at treeline and above.

Moderate

• We are confident that there are persistent slabs in the snowpack, but uncertain about how likely they are to trigger.

On Thursday, numerous naturally triggered storm slabs up to size 3 were reported near Golden on primarily north/east aspects in the alpine.

25 to 40 cm of recent snow and strong southwest winds have formed storm slabs that will be most reactive in wind-affected terrain.

Below the recent snow is a 1 to 10 cm thick crust on all aspects. The thickness of the crust depends on elevation.

At upper elevations, where the crust is thinner or not present, it may still be possible to trigger persistent slabs on multiple buried weak layers of surface hoar and/or crusts in the top 120 cm of the snowpack.

In shallow snowpack areas, depth hoar (large facets) can be found near the bottom of the snowpack.

Friday Night
Mostly cloudy. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.

Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 0 to 10 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.

Sunday
Mostly sunny. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -14 °C.

Monday
Mostly cloudy. 60 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level rising to 2200 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Make conservative terrain choices and avoid overhead hazard.
• Watch for signs of instability like whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, or recent avalanches.
• Use small, low consequence slopes to test the bond of the new snow.
• Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
• Expect slab conditions to change drastically as you move into wind-exposed terrain.