Northwest Coastal

Stability is improving, but heavy wind effect has made alpine travel an unappealing prospect. Seek out what sheltered snow remains for the safest, best skiing and riding.

High -

Sunday night: Clear. Strong to extreme east winds.Monday: Sunny. Moderate to strong east winds. Alpine high temperatures around -15.Tuesday: Sunny. Strong northeast winds easing to light over the day. Alpine high temperatures around -13.Wednesday: A mix of sun and cloud. Light variable winds. Alpine high temperatures around -9.

On Friday, a skier triggered a small (size 1) soft wind slab avalanche on a north aspect at 1550 m near Mt Hadden.A small (size 1) storm slab was triggered by a skier in the southeast of the region on Thursday. This occurred on a steeper (38 degree), convex, north-facing slope at 1300 metres. Although small, it highlights the potential for smaller, older storm slabs to react to skier triggering on suspect features.Reports from Wednesday showed explosives control yielding mainly small (size 1) wind slab releases in the Shames area. Several other recent small (size 1.5) natural wind slab releases were observed in alpine features in the Legate Peak area.

In most areas, the upper snowpack is composed of successive layers of aging, wind affected storm snow layers. The top layer of this snow has been faceting (becoming sugary) under the influence of recent cold temperatures at all elevations. With recent southeast and northeast winds, thin wind slabs have developed in the lee of ridgecrests and other wind exposed features. Sheltered areas at lower elevations may still hold pockets of around 40 cm of low density snow which will overlie a thick melt-freeze crust at and below treeline.In the south of the region, the remainder of the snowpack is well-settled.Around Bear Pass and in the north of the region, there is a weak layer of feathery surface hoar crystals about 50 cm deep. This layer is likely most prominent in sheltered and shaded areas. Also in the north, a few weak layers may still exist within the middle and lower half of the snowpack. These include another layer of surface hoar around 70 to 100 cm deep and a layer of sugary faceted snow around 200 cm deep. These layers are a concern in thinner snowpack areas at higher elevations, where thicker, bridging layers of old storm snow and crust may be absent.