Not much is changing aside from a few cm of new snow and increasing southeast wind in the afternoon. If you are heading into the steeps, be on the look out for wind transported snow and fresh wind slabs.
As south/southeast wind picks up to moderate levels Wednesday afternoon with a few cm's of new snow, isolated wind slabs are likely to form in the immediate lee of windy exposed ridge crests, in cross-loaded features or in steep alpine areas. Cornices continue to grow fragile with cold temperatures.
The remnants of a weak system will bring cloudy conditions with scattered flurries and light to moderate southerly winds all week.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Mainly cloudy with clear periods and isolated flurries, light south wind, treeline temperatures around -10 C.
WEDNESDAY: Morning clear periods then scattered flurries by afternoon, trace to 3 cm new snow, light to moderate southeast wind, treeline temperatures around -13 C.
THURSDAY: A mix of sun and clouds with scattered flurries, 1 to 3cm new snow, light southerly wind, treeline temperatures around -5 C.
FRIDAY: A mix of sun and clouds with scattered flurries, 1 to 5cm new snow, light southerly wind, treeline temperatures around -6 C.
A few centemeters of recent snow has buried surface hoar and old surfaces. Alpine and upper treeline terrain remains heavily wind affected from last week's strong to extreme southwest winds with scouring, sastrugi, isolated pockets of soft snow and layers of hard wind slab. A hard thick crust is found below 1800 m. Near-surface faceting continues to slowly soften hard surfaces, promote facet growth at crust interfaces and weaken cornices.
A solid mid-pack sits above deeply buried decomposing crust and facet layers near the bottom of the snowpack (100-150 cm deep). Avalanche activity on these layers has been sporadic and mostly triggered by large loads such as wind slab avalanches and cornice falls. Though unreactive under the current conditions, steep rocky slopes and shallow snowpacks should still be carefully assessed and approached with caution.
