Its hammer time once again as 60 to 100km/hr southwest winds blast exposed terrain tree line and above. Stick to sheltered areas to avoid testing the new slabs.
Strong to extreme southwest winds continue to redistribute the snow well down into the terrain. Look for newly formed wind slab in non typical places lower in lee start zones and be wary of cross loading.
Use caution around thin to thick areas. Keep an eye out for surface hoar in isolated sheltered locations below treeline. A Dec weak layer exists in West facing alpine features and could be reactive to human traffic, wind loading and solar input.
Isolated precipitation overnight Tues with strong to extreme winds from the southwest. Clearing and cooling trend follows.
Wednesday: Mix of sun and cloud. Precip: nil. Alpine Temps: Low -14 C, High -12 C. Wind west 25km/h gusting to 80 km/h.
Thursday: Mix of sun and cloud. Precip: nil. Alpine Temps: Low -15 C, High -10 C. Wind light to 15 km/h.
30cm of unconsolidated surface snow continues to settle. Wind event in progress. Strong to X southwest winds stripping exposed terrain and continuing to promote wind effect, wind slab formation and cornice growth. The midpack is supportive. Spotty buried surface hoar can be found down 30cm and 70cm in sheltered and shaded locations below tree line.
No new avalanches observed on Monday, but significant whoomphing was observed Sunday in low angle wind effected terrain.
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