Be cautious of daytime warming. We are still seeing large natural avalanches occur daily.
Deeper instabilities and persistent weak layers remain reactive. Allow the snowpack time to recover, stick to conservative terrain, and avoid overhead hazards.
This avalanche problem is associated with a weak facet and crust layer buried at the end of January approximately 80cm down in sheltered areas. This includes a crust layer formed in early March below the recent storm snow which is prominent on solar aspects.
Recent snow and warm temperatures will lead to wet loose avalanches when the sun appears. These have the potential to trigger deeper weak layers within the snowpack.
Field teams continue to observe deep persistent slab avalanches this week. Avalanches in the upper snowpack may have the potential to step down to these deeper weak layers, leading to larger, more destructive slides. Consider this layer when evaluating overhead hazard and terrain choices.
March 31, Three Size 3 avalanches were reported on the unnamed peak to the NW of Mt. Cirrus. One of the avalanches was reported to have a 3 meter deep crown.
March 30, Two Size 2.5 Deep persistent avalanches were observed on Roche Bonhomme. Field teams observed numerous wet loose avalanches up to size 1 due to increased solar warming. These smaller avalanches were then triggering larger persistent and deep persistent slabs up to size 2.5
There is a temperature crust to 2300m at the Icefields and a sun crust that likely goes to mountain top. The upper snowpack has 25 cm of settling new snow over recent crusts. A 50-100 cm mid-pack rests on weak facets. The lower snowpack consists of depth hoar and breaking down crusts. Tree line snow depth is 110-170 cm.
Tuesday
Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries.
Precipitation: 2 cms snow
Alpine temperature: High -3 °C.
Ridge wind west: 10-25 km/h.
Freezing level: 1800 metres.
