Adjust your approach to terrain as you gain elevation
Wind slabs are the primary hazard up high and early season hazards are the primary down low
Exposed terrain is highly wind affected. Wind slabs could still be found on north and west aspects.
Wind slabs will be more reactive where they overlie facets or surface hoar.
A size 1.5 skier triggered avalanche was reported on Wednesday on a north east aspect. This avalanche ran on the surface hoar described in the snowpack summary. Check out this Mountain Information Network report for more details.
A couple of small, natural wind slab avalanches were observed on westerly aspects by our field team on Thursday. These avalanches likely occurred over the past 24 to 48 hours.
5 to 10 cm of previous storm snow overlies old wind affected snow, wind slab and the early November rain crust depending on aspect.
On sheltered features a new surface hoar layer is down up to 20 cm. The early November crust is buried around 60 cm deep and may have small facets above it in these locations.
At treeline there is a snowpack depth of 60 to 80 cm. Snowpack depth tapers with elevation to around 30 cm at valley bottoms. Many early season hazards are just below the surface below treeline.
Friday Night
Mostly clear skies. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Saturday
Sunny. 10 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Sunday
Mix of sun and clouds with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4°C.
Monday
Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow at treeline and above. 50 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1°C, freezing level rising to 1200 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
