Watch for wind slabs in steep terrain.
As new snow piles up, dial back your terrain choices and avoid terrain traps.
Wind slabs are forming over old wind-affected surfaces and/or melt freeze crusts. If triggered, they are running far and fast on the crust.
New snow amounts are likely to vary widely across the terrain. Watch for terrain traps that might increase the consequences of an avalanche.
On Tuesday, a rider triggered a large (size 2) storm slab that carried them a long way on the crust from March. They were uninjured. This occurred east of New Denver.
On Monday and Tuesday, a few small (size 1) natural and rider-triggered wind slabs were reported.
Several small dry loose and wet loose avalanches were also reported on Monday and Tuesday, up to size 1.5, both natural and rider-triggered.
South-facing aspects have developed solar crusts near the surface; wind-affected surfaces are found elsewhere. 10 to 40 cm of snow sits on a crust of variable thickness, which can be found in most locations and has been the bed surface for most of the recent avalanche activity.
The mid and lower snowpack is well settled and strong in most areas.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy. Up to 5 cm of snow. 10 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.
Thursday
Cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow, with the greatest amounts near the USA border. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.
Friday
Mostly cloudy. 1 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Saturday
Mostly sunny. 1 cm of snow. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
