Be especially cautious in steep, wind-affected terrain where triggering slabs is most likely.
Previous moderate winds created wind slabs at upper elevations. New snow and wind on Saturday may start to form small but reactive slabs.
A buried layer of facets in the snowpack is expected to be more reactive in wind-affected thin rocky terrain features. Triggering of this layer is less likely where a supportive crust is present above.
On Wednesday, a large (size 3) persistent slab avalanche was reported west of the forecast region. The avalanche ran on an east aspect in the alpine. This observation indicates that the persistent slab problem continues to be a concern in this forecast region.
A dusting of new snow covers surface hoar. This overlies 10 to 15 cm of faceting snow from recent cold temperatures.
This new snow overlies wind-affected snow, with wind slabs in lee terrain features. Wind slabs remain reactive and are slow to bond to previously heavily wind-pressed surfaces. A surface crust can be found up to 1500 m.
Below this, a layer of facets from early February and a thick crust from late January are at a similar depth between 70 and 110 cm. This layer remains possible to trigger with large loads and is likely found more easily on north-facing slopes.
Friday Night
Mostly clear skies. 1 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.
Saturday
Mix of sun and clouds. 1 to 3 cm of snow. 30 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -14 °C.
Sunday
Mix of sun and clouds. 2 to 5 cm of snow. 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -13 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow at treeline. 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
