Assess for wind slabs in steep alpine terrain before committing yourself.
Wind slabs may remain triggerable in wind-loaded alpine terrain features. Small avalanches could step down to deeper layers, resulting in large avalanches.
We didn't receive any reports of avalanche activity on Thursday. Wind slab avalanches were observed on steep north and east-facing alpine slopes on Wednesday in the Hankin area. Riders could trigger similar avalanches going forward until they have enough time to bond to the snowpack.
Around 20 cm of recent snow and southwest wind may have formed wind slabs in lee terrain features in the alpine. These slabs may need a few days to bond to the snowpack.
A weak layer of faceted grains and/or surface hoar crystals may be found around 40 to 60 cm deep, particularly on northerly alpine slopes. The weak layer may be close to a hard melt-freeze crust from early April.
A few weak layers deeper in the snowpack in northerly alpine terrain are gaining strength. It remains unlikely to trigger them, but it is possible a large load such as a cornice fall could.
Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy with 1 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Friday
Cloudy with 1 cm of snow. 30 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with 1 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1200 m.
Sunday
Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1200 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
