Conservative terrain travel is recommended. Riders could trigger dangerous avalanches at any elevation, on all aspects.
Wind has shifted directions, meaning you may find wind slabs on any aspect in wind-exposed terrain. Wind slabs could step down to buried weak layers and run surprisingly far.
40 to 60 cm of snow rests on a weak layer and numerous other weak layers may exist in the top metre of the snowpack. Humans could trigger large avalanches anywhere the overlying snow has formed a cohesive slab on these layers.
We received many reports of small to large (size 1 to 2) slab avalanches on Monday, releasing on the weak layers described in the Snowpack Summary. They were 40 to 100 cm deep and occurred on all aspects and at all elevations, with most occurring on northerly aspects around treeline. These avalanches were similar to the avalanche cycle that occurred on the weekend.
It remains possible for humans to trigger similar avalanches going forward. Read more about this problem here.
Around 40 to 60 cm of snow accumulated since last Friday. Recent easterly wind in the alpine and northerly wind near valley bottom redistributed some of this snow in wind-exposed terrain. The snow remains soft in wind-sheltered terrain. The snow overlies various layers that it may not bond well to, including faceted grains, surface hoar crystals in wind-sheltered openings, and a hard melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes.
The middle to upper portion of the snowpack between approximately 50 and 100 cm deep is faceted with numerous other layers of surface hoar and/or crusts that formed over the month of January.
The lower snowpack is strong.
Tuesday Night
Clear skies. 10 to 20 km/h east ridgetop wind, 40 to 60 km/h northwest valley wind. Treeline temperature -18 °C.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with 0 to 3 cm of snow. 10 to 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -16 °C.
Thursday
Partly cloudy. 10 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -14 °C.
Friday
Partly cloudy. 10 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -13 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
