It will be difficult to find ways to test slopes without serious risk.
Signs of instability may not be obvious until it's too late, and choosing flat or gentle terrain is your best defense.
Recent snow and moderate to strong southwest wind developed reactive wind slabs. These slabs may still be triggered by humans, and could potentially step-down to deeper layers, even in terrain that isn't very steep.
Three problematic persistent weak layers exist in the upper 170 cm of the snowpack. Large, destructive avalanches are possible, even on low-angle slopes.
On Monday, near Revelstoke, a large (size 3) remote rider triggered avalanche was reported. It started off an alpine ridge, and hit another skier below. Details with photo.
Over the weekend, numerous large to very large (up to size 4) natural, human and machine triggered persistent slab avalanches continued to be reported, including several remote avalanches at treeline and below.
Surprisingly large avalanches are still possible, even in relatively mellow terrain.
50 to 90 cm of settling storm snow overlies a complex snowpack.
Three persistent weak layers of concern are found in the upper 180 cm of the snowpack:
60 to 70 cm down is a layer of surface hoar in sheltered areas, or a melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes from mid-February.
90 to 120 cm down is the early-February layer of surface hoar in wind-sheltered terrain and a crust on sun-exposed slopes.
110 to 140 cm down is the late-January layer of surface hoar and facets over a melt-freeze crust.
All of these persistent layers have continued to produce large avalanches.
Below this, the remainder of the snowpack is well consolidated and strong.
Monday Night
Clear skies. 30-50 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. 3 to 10 cm of snow. 35-65 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy. 15 to 25 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.
Thursday
Mix of sun and clouds. 1 to 10 cm of snow. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
