Wind slabs may step down to deeper layers, creating very large avalanches.
Stick to sheltered, conservative terrain for the best and safest riding.
New snow and strong southwest winds will form fresh, reactive wind slabs in lee terrain.
Wind slabs may step down to deeper layers, resulting in larger avalanches.
Persistent weak layers of crust/facets or surface hoar are buried in the upper 250 cm of the snowpack. Distribution seems spotty and signs of instability may not be evident. The best defence is choosing smaller, low-consequence terrain.
In the past few days, a couple of natural wind slabs, size 2-2.5 were observed on north and east aspects in the alpine.
Several recent natural cornice falls have been large enough that, even without triggering a slab, they were size 2.5 or greater.
A few very large persistent slab avalanches have been reported throughout the region in recent days. Some are suspected to have run on the mid-March layer, and others even deeper. Most of these avalanches were triggered by cornices.
Up to 15 cm of new snow has been redistributed by southwest winds, creating wind slabs and wind-affected surfaces. This new snow overlies a sun crust on steep solar aspects and up to 40 cm of facetted snow in sheltered areas.
A layer of facets and/or surface hoar from earlier in March can be found 50 to 100 cm deep.
Several older persistent weak layers are buried up to 250 cm deep. While triggering these layers is trending toward unlikely, they present a low-probability, high-consequence problem.
Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy. 2 to 15 cm of snow. 40 to 80 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Friday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 40 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 3 to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy. 3 cm of snow. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
