Assess for wind slabs in exposed areas. Good riding should still exist on sheltered, lower elevation slopes!
North winds today mean wind slabs could exist on a variety of aspects. Watch for steep, lee or cross-loaded areas, and convex rollovers.
A layer of buried surface hoar may exist continuing to make these slabs reactive to human triggering.
Upper elevations where snow has been deposited into wind slabs is the main concern.
On Saturday, a size 2 avalanche was triggered remotely on a southeast-facing slope on a steep, wind-loaded feature just above treeline. Skiers in this area also reported whumpfing. These may have failed on the buried surface hoar detailed in the Snowpack Summary. Several other size 1 and 2 wind slab avalanches were also reported on both north- and south-facing slopes in exposed areas.
10 to 20 cm of soft snow overlies hard surfaces. This soft snow may be redistributed into wind slabs in exposed areas.
A layer of buried surface hoar that formed on Christmas Eve may exist and be buried about 50 cm deep.
The lower snowpack is generally strong.
Snowpack depths range from 80 to 200 cm across the region and vary locally from wind distribution.
Monday Night
Increasing cloud with trace snow, southwest alpine wind 20 to 40 km/h, treeline temperature -15 °C.
Tuesday
A mix of sun and cloud with no precipitation, north alpine winds 30 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -18 °C.
Wednesday
Few clouds with no precipitation, north alpine winds 50 to 70 km/h, treeline temperature -20 °C.
Thursday
Few clouds with no precipitation, north alpine winds 40 to 60 km/h, treeline temperature -30 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
