Fresh wind slabs may be forming with the bit of new snow and moderate Westerly winds overnight and into Tuesday. If triggered, these could step down to deeper layers, resulting in a large avalanche.
Wind slabs have been encountered along ridgelines and on slopes immediately below from moderate winds from various directions over the last few days. If triggered, wind slabs may step down to the persistent surface hoar layers.
This layer has been most reactive around treeline, in areas that have not seen significant skier traffic since early January.
After a long period of dormancy in the park, there was a large cornice triggered natural avalanche on Saturday on this low probability/high consequence layer. Watch for steep, thin, rocky areas where this layer could be triggered from.
No new natural or human-triggered avalanches were observed or reported on Monday.
Several human-triggered sz 1-1.5 avalanches were reported over the weekend on Avalanche Crest, Hermit Slide path, and Swiss Couloir.
A natural cornice failure triggered a size 3 deep persistent slab on the SE slope of Grizzly Peak on Saturday.
Expect ~5cm of new snow by Tuesday morning. Recent variable winds have created new wind slabs in the alpine and down into tree line. Quality soft snow can be found in sheltered areas.
The early Jan surface hoar is buried 40-70cm and is most prevalent at tree line. The November 17th facet weakness can still be found near the base of the snowpack in many areas.
Mainly cloudy with light snow on Tuesday with up to 5cm of snow accumulation. Temps gradually rise with an alpine high of -12. Ridgetop winds will be 20-30km/hr from the West.
Light snow and similar conditions for Wednesday.
