Conditions are tricky despite the moderate danger rating and sunny weather.
The best and safest riding will be on slopes with soft snow and no slab properties.
Wind slabs have formed on a variety of aspects at upper elevations. Use terrain like ridges or ribs to avoid areas of wind-loaded snow
A persistent weak layer of crust, facets or surface hoar is buried 30 to 70 cm deep. This layer resulted in some close calls for people last week.
Numerous small to very large avalanches were reported in the past week. Natural activity has declined, but small human-triggered slides persist daily. On Friday two separate parties accidentally triggered wind slabs near Whistler, and whumpfing was described in this MIN report.
Last Tuesday two notable avalanches were reported: One resulted in a person being fully buried for a lengthy time (MIN report here) and another was a near-miss for a snowmobiler. (Photo below)
Wind-affected snow and wind slabs formed by recent shifting wind can be found on various aspects at upper elevations. Steep sunny slopes may be moist or have a thin surface crust, shady slopes are growing surface hoar. 35 to 70 cm of old storm snow is slowly settling and has remained dry and powdery in many areas with cold temperatures. This snow is sitting on a weak layer that developed in late January: In most areas, it is a hard slippery crust, however, on shady, upper-elevation slopes, it may rest on faceted grains or surface hoar. The mid and lower snowpack is well-settled and bonded with no other layers of concern.
Saturday Night
Clear skies. 10 to 15 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.
Sunday
Sunny. 15 km/h northerly ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.
Monday
Sunny. 15 to 25 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -13 °C.
Tuesday
Sunny. 20 km/h north ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
