Use extra caution in the northern part of the region where triggering a persistent slab avalanche is more likely.
Wind slab can be found in exposed terrain at treeline and above. Sensitivity to triggering could be greater where wind slab has formed above a crust.
Several persistent weak layers exist within the snowpack. In the south of the region a supportive crust from early March is bridging these layers making triggering unlikely.
Thursday night: no new snow expected. Light westerly winds and a low of -9 at 1500m.
Friday: cloudy with up to 5cm of new snow. Moderate west wind. High of -3 at 1500m.
Saturday: cloudy with up to 10cm of new snow. Moderate southerly winds and freezing levels rising to 1600m.
Sunday: stormy with up to 20mm of precipitation and moderate southwest winds. Freezing levels rising to 1700m.
ON Wednesday one size one storm slab avalanche was reported. This avalanche was triggered on a steep roll at treeline on a northwest aspect. Loose dry avalanches to size 1.5 were reported throughout the region.
No rider triggered avalanches were reported on Monday or Tuesday.
Recent variable winds have redistributed up to 15cm of storm snow into wind slabs in exposed terrain. In the southern half of the region this overlies a thick and supportive crust at all aspects and elevations.
A new surface hoar layer has just been buried. It is not yet a concern.
The late February layer sits 20-50 cm deep. It consists of surface hoar crystals in shady, wind-sheltered areas around treeline and a crust on solar aspects. This layer was reactive to human triggers over the weekend in areas where it was not bridged by the above-mentioned crust.
Weak layers from mid-February and late January made up of crusts and/or surface hoar crystals can be found around 60+ cm and 100+ cm deep, respectively.
