Start on small, mellow slopes and watch for signs of instability before approaching steeper or larger slopes.
Wind loaded slopes will be the most concerning.
Continued snow and moderate to strong southwesterly winds are maintaining reactive storm slabs. Expect these slabs to be deeper and more likely to avalanche on west through north facing (leeward) slopes.
No recent avalanches have been reported.
If you are heading into the backcountry, consider sharing your observations and posting a MIN.
New storm snow accumulations are variable and have likely created hots spots and deeper zones on the north and west island.
Moderate to strong southwest winds continue to make deeper, more reactive slabs in leeward terrain.
Extending to the mountain tops, a widespread, thick and hard crust is now expected to be buried by 40-80 cm of snow, likely to have moist snow underneath.
The snowpack below the crust is well settled, strong and bonded with no layers of concern.
Thursday Night
Cloudy. 2 to 10 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 800 m.
Friday
Mostly cloudy. 4 to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 1 to 2 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 900 m.
Sunday
Mix of sun and clouds. 3 to 5 cm of snow. 10 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
